Abstract
BackgroundWheat (Triticum aestivum L.) serves as important grain crop widely cultivated in the world, which is often suffered by drought stress in natural conditions. As one of the most important post translation modifications, protein phosphorylation widely participates in plant abiotic stress regulation. In this study, we performed the first comparative analysis of phosphorylated protein characterization in flag leaves and developing grains of elite Chinese bread wheat cultivar Zhongmai 175 under water deficit by combining with proteomic approach and Pro-Q Diamond gel staining.ResultsField experiment showed that water deficit caused significant reduction of plant height, tiller number, ear length and grain yield. 2-DE and Pro-Q Diamond gel staining analysis showed that 58 proteins were phosphorylated among 112 differentially accumulated proteins in response to water deficit, including 20 in the flag leaves and 38 in the developing grains. The phosphorylated proteins from flag leaves mainly involved in photosynthesis, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, while those from developing grains were closely related with detoxification and defense, protein, carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Particularly, water deficit resulted in significant downregulation of phosphorylated modification level in the flag leaves, which could affect photosynthesis and grain yield. However, some important phosphorylated proteins involved in stress defense, energy metabolism and starch biosynthesis were upregulated under water deficit, which could benefit drought tolerance, accelerate grain filling and shorten grain developing time.ConclusionsThe modification level of those identified proteins from flag leaves and grains had great changes when wheat was suffered from water deficit, indicating that phosphoproteins played a key role in response to drought stress. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms how phosphoproteins respond to drought stress and thus reduce production.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) serves as important grain crop widely cultivated in the world, which is often suffered by drought stress in natural conditions
Subcellular localization showed that most of the differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) in flag leaves and grains were located in chloroplast (73.17%) and cytoplasm (45.07%), respectively (Fig. 4b, c). These results indicate that the foremost function of Characterization of phosphorylated proteins in the developing flag leaves and grains under water deficit Through comparison of two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) (Fig. 3), Pro-Q Diamond staining (Fig. 5), and tandem mass spectrometry results, 20 and 38 phosphorylated DAP spots in response to water deficit were respectively identified in flag leaves and developing grains, which were individually represented
We found that most phosphoproteins involved in carbon metabolism and energy metabolism were upregulated in flag leaves, but some important phosphoproteins participating in photosynthesis were downregulated
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) serves as important grain crop widely cultivated in the world, which is often suffered by drought stress in natural conditions. As one of the most important post translation modifications, protein phosphorylation widely participates in plant abiotic stress regulation. As one of the most important grain crops, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is widely cultivated in the world due to its value as a stable source of saccharides and proteins, and its ability to adapt to different surviving environment. Most agricultural areas where wheat mainly spread over strongly depend on natural rainfall, Drought is one of the most common abiotic stresses, which significantly affects crop production (Fedoroff et al 2010). When encountered drought stress, plant root caps synthesize abscisic acid (ABA) to trigger a signaling cascade in guard cells, and leads to stomatal closure and reduction of water loss (MacRobbie 1998)
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