Characterization of Plant Mobile Domain proteins at the interface between tomato and Arabidopsis plants

The general objective of this research proposal is to investigate further the role of PMD proteins in plants. From the results we obtained in A. thaliana, showing that PMD are important proteins required for normal plant development and regulation of gene expression, we hypothesize that these protein functions are conserved in other plant species, including crops. We propose to translate our finding into the model fruit bearing crop tomato, by studying the role of PMD proteins at different stages of the plant development. As we hypothe size that PMD proteins could act as TF-like proteins or recruit specific TFs to regulate gene expression, and because SLPMD1 and SlPMD2 are expressed in fruit tissues (see task1.1), we will particularly analyze their function during the process of fruit ripening that involves complex TF-driven molecular cascades.