Dr. Zhihua Hua
The Environmental & Plant Biology Colloquium Series presents Dr. Zhihua Hua on “Functionality Control of Chloroplasts by Ubiquitylation” on Friday, April 1, at 11:50 a.m. in Porter Hall 104.
Hua is an Assistant Professor with the Environmental & Plant Biology Department at Ohio University
Abstract: Chloroplasts, small double membrane compartments within green plant cells, are the largest factory on earth to provide humans with energy in the form of food or feed stalk through photosynthesis. In addition to functioning as an energy provider, chloroplasts also synthesize many essential compounds, such as fatty acids, vitamins, tetrapyrroles, and amino acids, and release oxygen for aerobic respiration of all organisms. Therefore, the chloroplast activity plays an indispensable role not only for plant survival but also to animals including human beings. Due to the significant loss of its ancient genome, a chloroplast relies on the nuclear genome to encode more than 90% of its proteins. A seamless communication of a chloroplast with the nucleus is thus essential for its proper function. Our recent finding adds a new insight into this signal communication. We discovered that a direct cytoplasmic abundance control of chloroplast preproteins by the ubiquitin-26S proteasome bridged the communication between the nucleus and chloroplasts. In addition to few other recent discoveries, a new concept rises in plant molecular biology, i.e. ubiquitin goes green!
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