Abstract
Previous research demonstrated that soft wheat cultivars have better post-harvest storage tolerance than harder cultivars during accelerated ageing. To better understand this phenomenon, a tandem mass tag-based quantitative proteomic analysis of soft wheat seeds was performed at different storage times during accelerated ageing (germination ratios of 97%, 45%, 28%, and 6%). A total of 1,010 proteins were differentially regulated, of which 519 and 491 were up- and downregulated, respectively. Most of the differentially expressed proteins were predicted to be involved in nutrient reservoir, enzyme activity and regulation, energy and metabolism, and response to stimulus functions, consistent with processes occurring in hard wheat during artificial ageing. Notably, defense-associated proteins including wheatwin-2, pathogenesis-related proteins protecting against fungal invasion, and glutathione S-transferase and glutathione synthetase participating in reactive oxygen species (ROS) detoxification, were upregulated compared to levels in hard wheat during accelerated ageing. These upregulated proteins might be responsible for the superior post-harvest storage-tolerance of soft wheat cultivars during accelerated ageing compared with hard wheat. Although accelerated ageing could not fully mimic natural ageing, our findings provided novel dynamic proteomic insight into soft wheat seeds during seed deterioration.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the most important crops in the world, is a staple food used for making flour, noodles, alcoholic beverages, biofuel and a variety of other products (Lim, 2013)
The Gr of seeds following artificial ageing treatment displayed decreased germinability from 97% to 87% (30 days), 70% (60 days), 45% (90days), 28% (120 days), 15% (150 days), and 6% (180 days), while the amount of CO2 produced increased from 0% to 0.25% (30 days), 0.30% (60 days), 0.34% (90 days), 0.37% (120 days), 0.39% (150 days), and 0.40% (180 days)
These results showed that Gr and respiration changed rapidly from 30 d to 90 d indicating drastic seed vigor and metabolic alterations
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the most important crops in the world, is a staple food used for making flour, noodles, alcoholic beverages, biofuel and a variety of other products (Lim, 2013). The post-harvest storage of wheat seeds is commonly carried out in horizontal warehouses for 3 to 5 years or longer in several northern provinces in China. As storage time is prolonged, seeds can deteriorate via incremental decomposition of stored substances, and impaired metabolism and energy supply, leading to commercial losses. Extensive studies have been conducted to investigate physiological and biochemical changes during seed ageing. These researches indicate that accumulated free radicals attack membrane lipids, triggering degenerative events including changes in lipid content, nutrients reserves, lipoxygen activity and nucleic acids (Hu et al, 2012; McDonald, 1999; Rehman & Shah, 1999)
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