Proteomic analysis of 'Korla' fragrant pear responsed during early infection of Alternaria alternata

Abstract

‘Korla’ fragrant pears are highly prone to Alternaria alternata (A. alternata) infection. Herein we performed isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based comparative proteomic analysis to evaluate the response of ‘Korla’ fragrant pears to A. alternata invasion at different timepoints (0 h, 24 h, 72 h, and 120 h). Our analyses led to the identification of 939 differentially abundant proteins. Protein function annotation and enrichment analysis indicated that in response to A. alternata infection, ‘Korla’ fragrant pear strongly activates defense-related proteins and activates signaling mechanism, further accelerates the phenylpropane metabolic pathway, and modifies the cell wall through redox related proteins and hormone signaling molecules, thus expressing the interaction of multiple defense related proteins involved in a series of biochemical reactions to form a Pathogen-related defense proteins. Our findings enhance our understanding of the interaction mechanism between plants and pathogens.