Muench, Douglas G.De la Torre Espinoza, Daniela Naomi2024-08-072024-08-072024-08-06De la Torre Espinoza, D. N. (2024). RNA-binding proteins implicated in the anaerobic response of Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119353Floods and waterlogging significantly impact economically important crops by inducing anaerobic stress, leading to severe agricultural losses. When soils become waterlogged, oxygen levels drop, creating anaerobic conditions that impair root respiration and metabolic functions. Crops can suffer from reduced growth, nutrient uptake inefficiencies, and increased susceptibility to diseases when exposed to anaerobic stress conditions, resulting in decreased yields, and, in severe cases, complete crop failure. The economic ramifications that result from flooding include reduced farm income, higher food prices, and increased costs for recovery and mitigation efforts, thus posing a substantial threat to food security and agricultural sustainability. To further analyze post-transcriptional gene expression under anaerobic stress, the RNA interactome capture (RIC) technique was applied to Arabidopsis roots and rice coleoptiles exposed to anaerobic stress. This advanced method involves UV-crosslinking to stabilize RNA-protein interactions, followed by oligo(dT) capture under denaturing conditions and subsequent protein identification via mass spectrometry. Optimizing the UV crosslinking dosage ensures effective capture of RNA-protein complexes without damaging the tissues. The application of RIC revealed distinct RNA-binding protein (RBP) compositions in both Arabidopsis roots and rice coleoptiles under normal and anaerobic conditions. These findings highlighted significant changes in RNA-protein interactions due to oxygen availability, offering insights into the molecular mechanisms that plants use to adapt to anaerobic stress. This research enhances our understanding of plant resilience and provides potential targets for improving crop tolerance to flooding and waterlogging.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Biology--Molecularmaster thesis