植物载脂蛋白家族结构与功能研究进展

Advances in structure and function of lipocalin protein family in plants

植物载脂蛋白(lipocalins)是一类起源于绿藻、在低等植物和高等植物中广泛存在的蛋白家族,分为载脂蛋白和类载脂蛋白两亚类。该蛋白定位于细胞膜和叶绿体,暗示其参与植物的生长发育和抗逆响应过程。本文综述了近年来该家族蛋白的起源、蛋白结构、亚细胞定位,以及在非生物逆境抗性和脱落酸(ABA)合成代谢中的生理功能与作用机制。该家族蛋白可能参与维持细胞膜的稳定性、脂类结合与转运、叶绿体中叶黄素循环、ABA合成和类胡萝卜素合成等过程。本文为深入研究该蛋白家族的生物学功能提供新方法和新思路。

Plant lipocalin protein family originated from green algae are widely distributed in lower and higher plants, which consists of lipocalin protein subfamily and lipocalin-like protein subfamily. These proteins from this family are localized on plasma membrane and chloroplast organelles, implying their involvements in the plant development and responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. In this paper, the authors reviewed and summarized many advances in protein origin, structure characteristics, subcellular localization, functions in the abiotic stress tolerance, and underlying metabolic regulation mechanism of abscisic acid（ABA） biosynthesis process in the recent years. Many lines of evidences demonstrate that this family proteins are involved in cell membrane stability, lipid binding and transport, lutein cycle in the chloroplast, ABA biosynthesis and carotenoid biosynthesis. All these results above would provide new methods and clues to deep understanding of this family genes in the future.