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Title: Proteomic Analysis of Flax Seeds from the Chernobyl Area Suggests Involvement of Stress, Signaling, and Transcription/Translation in Response to Ionizing Radiation

Author
item KLUBICOVA, KATARINA - Slovak Academy Of Sciences
item DANCHENKO, MAKSYM - National Academy Of Sciences Of Ukraine
item SKULTETY, LUDOVIT - Slovak Academy Of Sciences
item Miernyk, Jan
item RASHYDOV, NAMIK - National Academy Of Sciences Of Ukraine
item BEREZHNA, VALENTYNA - National Academy Of Sciences Of Ukraine
item PRETOVA, ANNA - Slovak Academy Of Sciences
item HAJDUCH, MARTIN - Slovak Academy Of Sciences

Submitted to: Journal of Proteome Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/23/2010
Publication Date: 9/15/2010
Citation: Klubicova, K., Danchenko, M., Skultety, L., Miernyk, J.A., Rashydov, N.M., Berezhna, V.V., Pretova, A., Hajduch, M. 2010. Proteomic Analysis of Flax Seeds from the Chernobyl Area Suggests Involvement of Stress, Signaling, and Transcription/Translation in Response to Ionizing Radiation. Journal of Proteome Research. 44(18):6905-7168.

Interpretive Summary: A study was undertaken to try to understand how plants respond to a nuclear disaster such as the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Ukraine. Flax plants were studied because they are an important food, feed, and fiber crop. Plants were grown in either control or contaminated soil, and seeds were harvested. The proteins were separated, and then chemical analysis was used to identify the proteins that were differentially abundant. The results obtained will help to understand flax seed development, and will also contribute to our understanding of how plants respond to long-term exposure to radiation. These results will be useful to other researchers in their efforts to improve agricultural production through both classical breeding and application of biotechnology-based strategies.

Technical Abstract: The accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) on April 26, 1986 is the most serious nuclear disaster in human history. However, while the area proximal to the CNPP remains substantially contaminated with long-lived radioisotopes including 90Sr and 137Cs, the local ecosystem has been able to adapt. We recently proposed a working model for plant adaptation to ionizing radiation based on the results of proteomic analysis of mature soybean seeds harvested from control and radio-contaminated growth-plots in the Chernobyl region (Danchenko et al., 2009). Herein, we extend the initial soybean-based model using the results from a parallel study of flax (Linum usitatissimum). Seeds of the local flax variety Kyivskyi were sown in radio-contaminated and control fields in the Chernobyl region. Total protein fractions were extracted from mature seeds, and analyzed using two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with tandem-mass spectrometry. Expression profiles for 720 protein spots were determined for seeds harvested from both radio-contaminated and control fields. Thirty five of the protein spots differed in expression levels at a p-value of = 0.05. Of these, 28 were identified using state-of-the-art MSE methods. The differentially-abundant proteins were assigned to one of nine functional categories; the two categories containing the most proteins are those associated with signaling and transcription. We propose that seeds produced by plants grown in the radio-contaminated soil conditions of the CNPP area are adapted to a high-IR environment through changes in the levels of proteins associated with multiple signaling pathways, along with an overall decrease in protein flux through secretory pathway.