NSF Org:	IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
Recipient:	CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date:	June 27, 1996
Latest Amendment Date:	November 19, 1998
Award Number:	9631921
Award Instrument:	Continuing Grant
Program Manager:	Judith Plesset IOS  Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO  Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	July 1, 1996
End Date:	June 30, 2000 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$340,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$340,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 1996 = $110,000.00 FY 1997 = $115,000.00 FY 1998 = $110,000.00 FY 1999 = $5,000.00
History of Investigator:	Mikhail Nasrallah (Principal Investigator) men4@cornell.edu June Nasrallah (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Cornell Univ - State: AWDS MADE PRIOR MAY 2010 341 PINE TREE RD ITHACA NY  US  14850-2820 (607)255-5014
Sponsor Congressional District:	19
Primary Place of Performance:	Cornell Univ - State: AWDS MADE PRIOR MAY 2010 341 PINE TREE RD ITHACA NY  US  14850-2820
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	19
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	G56PUALJ3KT5
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	PLANT FUNGAL & MICROB DEV MECH
Primary Program Source:	app-0196  app-0197  app-0198  app-0199
Program Reference Code(s):	9109, 9178, 9251, BIOT, SMET
Program Element Code(s):	111800
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.074

ABSTRACT

9631921 Nasrallah Genetic self-incompatibility, whereby the stigma of the flower is able to inhibit pollen germination and pollen tube development after self-pollination, represents one of the more promising systems for analyzing cell-cell communication in higher plants. In Brassica, Dr. Nasrallah has demonstrated that the self-incompatibility S locus is a multifunctional gene complex that controls signal perception through genes that are expressed in cells of the stigma epidermis and that encode plasma membrane- and cell wall-localized receptors. Thus, elucidation of the mechanism of self-incompatibility in this system is likely to provide insight into receptor-mediated cell-cell signaling in plants. They will continue their analysis of mutations that lead to the breakdown of self-incompatibility with the goal of identifying genes, either at the S locus or at unlinked loci, that encode the various components of the recognition and signal transduction phases of the self-incompatibility response. They will focus on a series of deletions that they have recently generated in strains carrying defined S haplotypes. Two classes of lesions that perturb the self-incompatibility response in stigma and/or pollen have been identified. In one class, the lesions map to the S locus and will be exploited to isolate novel genes required for the perception phase of the response. A second class of lesions results in the stigma-specific breakdown of self-incompatibility; these lesions affect a locus unlinked to the S locus which is a condidate for a gene controlling a step in the self-incompatibility signaling cascade. The study promises to influence our thinking on how plant cells transduce signals across their outer cell wall, how they utilize a precise molecular recognition system, and how a multi-component signal perception system has evolved and is maintained in a coadaped gene complex.

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