title: Proteomics of seed development, desiccation tolerance, germination and vigor.
abstract: Proteomics, the large-scale study of the total complement of proteins in a given sample, has been applied to all aspects of seed biology mainly using model species such as Arabidopsis or important agricultural crops such as corn and rice. Proteins extracted from the sample have typically been separated and quantified by 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify the proteins in the gel spots. In this way, qualitative and quantitative changes in the proteome during seed development, desiccation tolerance, germination, dormancy release, vigor alteration and responses to environmental factors have all been studied. Many proteins or biological processes potentially important for each seed process have been highlighted by these studies, which greatly expands our knowledge of seed biology. Proteins that have been identified to be particularly important for at least two of the seed processes are involved in detoxification of reactive oxygen species, the cytoskeleton, glycolysis, protein biosynthesis, post-translational modifications, methionine metabolism, and late embryogenesis-abundant (LEA) proteins. It will be useful for molecular biologists and molecular plant breeders to identify and study genes encoding particularly interesting target proteins with the aim to improve the yield, stress tolerance or other critical properties of our crop species.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Resources and Beijing Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Resources and Beijing Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Resources and Beijing Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. Electronic address: sqsong@ibcas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Song-Quan
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Flakkebjerg, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark. Electronic address: ian.max.moller@agrsci.dk.
authors.forename: Ian Max
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Møller
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003890:Desiccation; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D018525:Germination; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020543:Proteome / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D012639:Seeds / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D020543:Proteome
keywords: Desiccation tolerance; Proteome; Seed development; Seed germination; Seed vigor