Quantitative proteomic analyses reveal the dynamics of protein and amino acid accumulation during soybean seed development

Authors: ISLAM, NAZRUL - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE); Krishnan, Hari; Natarajan, Savithiry - Savi

Submitted to: Proteomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/19/2021
Publication Date: 11/26/2021
Citation: Islam, N., Krishnan, H.B., Natarajan, S.S. 2021. Quantitative proteomic analyses reveal the dynamics of protein and amino acid accumulation during soybean seed development. Proteomics. Article e2100143. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.202100143.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pmic.202100143

Interpretive Summary: The two major seed components of soybean are the protein and oil. Several biotic and abiotic factors can directly or indirectly influence the final composition of these major components. The bulk of oil and protein accumulate during the early to middle stages of seed development. A better understanding of metabolic control of synthesis and accumulation of proteins and amino acids during seed filling is important for improving the soybeans. Scientists at USDA-ARS have investigated the dynamics of soybean seed protein accumulation during the seed filling using a high throughput and sensitive mass spectrometry (tandem mass tag) technique. The results reveal some of the important pathways of protein and sulfur containing amino acid accumulation that has not been reported previously. This data will help breeders, geneticists, and plant physiologists to alter the pathways to produce value added soybean seed traits.

Technical Abstract: Global analyses of protein profiling during seed development in soybean is paramount to understand the metabolic processes that corresponds to the differential protein accumulation and hence seed quality in soybean. Using high throughput tandem mass tag (TMT) based tagging technique, we identified 4,172 proteins in three developmental stages namely early, mid and late seed filling. We mapped the identified proteins to metabolic pathways that associated with seed filling. Elevated level of several kinases was observed from the early to mid-stages of seed filling, indicating that protein phosphorylation was a major event during this period. Early to late stages of seed filling was characterized by increased level of proteins associated with the cell wall, oil, and vacuolar-related processes. Among the seed storage proteins, 7S (ß-subunit) and 11S (Gy3, Gy4, Gy5) steadily increased in abundance from early to late stages seed development, whereas 2S albumin exhibited a decrease in abundance during the same period. An increased abundance of proteases, senescence associated proteins and, oil synthesis proteins was observed from mid to late stages of seed filing. The mid to late stages of seed filing was also characterized by lower abundance of transferases, transporters, Kunitz family trypsin and protease inhibitors. Two enzymes associated with methionine synthesis exhibited lower abundance from early to the late stages. This study unveiled expression of several key enzymes/proteins associated with amino acid and protein synthesis and their accumulation during seed development which will assist scientist and breeders to develop new value-added soybeans with improved protein quality.