Gel-free proteomics reveal potential biomarkers of priming-induced salt tolerance in durum wheat
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Date
2013-08-12
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elsevier
Abstract
Seed priming has been successfully demonstrated to be an efficient method to improve crop
productivity under stressful conditions. As a first step toward better understanding of the
mechanisms underlying the priming-induced salt stress tolerance in durum wheat, and to
overcomethe limitations of the gel-based approach, a comparative gel-free proteomic analysis
was conducted with durum wheat seed samples of varying vigor as generated by hydro- and
ascorbate-priming treatments. Results indicate that hydro-priming was accompanied by
significant changes of 72 proteins,most ofwhich are involved in proteolysis, protein synthesis,
metabolismand disease/defense response. Ascorbate-primingwas, however, accompanied by
significant changes of 83 proteins, which are mainly involved in protein metabolism,
antioxidant protection, repair processes and, interestingly, inmethionine-relatedmetabolism.
The present study provides new information for understanding how ‘priming-memory’
invokes seed stress tolerance.
Biological significance
The current work describes the first study in which gel-free shotgun proteomics were used to
investigate the metabolic seed protein fraction in durum wheat. A combined approach of
protein fractionation, hydrogel nanoparticle enrichment technique, and gel-free shotgun
proteomic analysis allowed us to identify over 380 proteins exhibiting greater molecular
weight diversity (ranging from7 to 258 kDa). Accordingly, we propose that this approach could
be useful to acquire a wider perspective and a better understanding of the seed proteome. In
the present work, we employed this method to investigate the potential biomarkers of
priming-induced salt tolerance in durum wheat. In this way, we identified several previously
unrecognized proteins which were never been reported before, particularly for the
ascorbate-priming treatment. These findings could provide new avenues for improving crop
productivity, particularly under unfavorable environmental conditions.