Integrated Approaches in the Study of Arabidopsis thaliana Iron Deficiency Regulation

Iron deficiency is a significant issue for agriculture and human sustainability. Plants have evolved to respond to iron deficiency through strategies that make iron more available in the soil and maintain required but not toxic levels of iron within the plant. This critical balance requires precise and complex regulation via gene regulatory networks. Here, I use both molecular and systems biology approaches to ascertain the role of regulatory players in the iron deficiency response.;First, I explore the E3 ligase BRUTUS (BTS) and its role in the iron deficiency response. I investigate how the domain structure of the E3 ligase BRUTUS (BTS) facilitates iron dependent stability and subsequent degradation of target proteins. The role of BTS is extended beyond the iron deficiency response to other abiotic stress responses through its interaction with and degradation of the abiotic stress regulators VOZ1 and VOZ2. Finally, I expand the iron network as a whole by using computational techniques to identify transcriptional regulators of BTS and of other known iron genes through the development of the Cluster and Differential Alignment Algorithm (CDAA). This algorithm is a useful tool to highlight missing regulatory nodes and make specific regulatory predictions. Once this small network of regulatory relationships is produced, I gather additional experimental data to incorporate in a system of Ordinary Differential Equations describing the dynamics of these relationships. The results of this project extend beyond the immediate field of iron nutrition and can inform similar systems biology approaches.