Proteomic Dissection of Abiotic Stress Response in Crop Plants

  • Alam, Iftekhar (Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Program), Gyeongsang National University) ;
  • Sharmin, Shamima Akhtar (Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Program), Gyeongsang National University) ;
  • Lee, Byung-Hyun (Division of Applied Life Science (BK21 Program), Gyeongsang National University)
  • Published : 2011.07.01

Abstract

Abiotic stress is the primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most major crop plants by more than 50%. In addition, future agricultural production and management will encounter multifaceted challenges from global climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to study the molecular response of crop plants to the stresses in order to develop appropriate strategies to sustain food production under adverse environmental conditions. We carried out a large scale proteomic analysis of soybean plants in response to various abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, waterlogging and their interactions. Proteins were analyzed by two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. The identified proteins are involved in a wide range of cellular functions. In addition to the well known stress-associated proteins, we identified several novel proteins, which were not reported before. In many cases our proteomic data bridges the gap between mRNA and metabolite data. Our studie provides new insights into identification of abiotic stress responsive proteins in soybean, and demonstrates the advantages of proteomic analysis in dissecting metabolic and regulatory networks.

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