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Title: Effects of Fe deficiency on the protein profile of Brassica napus phloem sap

Author
item GUITIERREZ-CARBONELL, ELAIN - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item LATTANZIO, GIUSEPPE - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item ALBACETE, ALFONSO - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item RIOS, JUAN JOSE - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item KEHR, JULIA - University Of Hamburg
item ABADIA, ANUNCIACION - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item Grusak, Michael
item ABADIA, JAVIER - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
item LOPEZ-MILLAN, ANA-FLOR - Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)

Submitted to: Proteomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/24/2015
Publication Date: 11/1/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62744
Citation: Guitierrez-Carbonell, E., Lattanzio, G., Albacete, A., Rios, J.J., Kehr, J., Abadia, A., Grusak, M.A., Abadia, J., Lopez-Millan, A.F. 2015. Effects of Fe deficiency on the protein profile of Brassica napus phloem sap. Proteomics. 15(22):3835-3853.

Interpretive Summary: Iron is an essential element for plants, playing a role in photosynthesis and crop yield, as well as helping plants ward off the effects of environmental stresses. We were interested in identifying some of the changes that occur in plants when they are not receiving adequate levels of iron, which can happen in certain soil types. We wish to use this information to develop strategies that will minimize the negative impacts of insect, microbial, or environmental damage to crops. We focused this study on the phloem transport system, the main nutrient delivery pathway in plants, because it is critical for moving sugars and other nutrients from leaves to seeds and to various growing points throughout the plant. We found that several proteins that help the plant deal with stress were reduced in number in the phloem system of the iron deficient plants. This implies that iron deficient plants may have an impaired ability to heal the cells of the phloem pathway, if these cells become injured. These results will help us identify the mechanisms that must be boosted in plants to help them function as well as possible, even when challenged with stressful growth conditions.

Technical Abstract: The aim of this work was to study the effect of Fe deficiency on the protein profile of phloem sap exudates from Brassica napus using 2-DE (IEF-SDS PAGE). The experiment was repeated thrice and two technical replicates per treatment were done. Two hundred sixty-three spots were consistently detected (found in all six replicates within each treatment) and 15.6% (41) of them showed significant changes in relative abundance (22 decreasing and 19 increasing) as a result of Fe deficiency. Among of them, 83% (34 spots), were unambiguously identified. Functional categories containing the largest number of protein species showing changes in relative abundance as a consequence of Fe deficiency were signaling and regulation (32%) and stress and redox homeostasis (17%). First, results indicate that Fe deficiency elicits major changes in signaling pathways involving Ca and hormones, which are generally associated with flowering and developmental processes. Second, Fe-deficiency causes an alteration in ROS homeostasis processes. Finally, Fe-deficiency induced decreases in the abundances of proteins involved in sieve element repair, suggesting that Fe-deficient plants may have an impaired capacity to heal sieve elements upon injury; this is also in line with the increased volume of phloem sap collected from Fe-deficient plants.