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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306873
Title: Protein profiles reveal diverse responsive signaling pathways in kernels of two maize inbred lines with contrasting drought sensitivity

Author
item YANG, LIMING - University Of Georgia
item JIANG, TINGBO - Northeast Forestry University
item FOUNTAIN, JAKE - University Of Georgia
item Scully, Brian
item LEE, ROBERT - University Of Georgia
item KEMERAIT, ROBERT - University Of Georgia
item CHEN, SIXUE - University Of Florida
item Guo, Baozhu

Submitted to: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/8/2014
Publication Date: 10/20/2014
Citation: Yang, L., Jiang, T., Fountain, J.C., Scully, B.T., Lee, R.D., Kemerait, R.C., Chen, S., Guo, B. 2014. Protein profiles reveal diverse responsive signaling pathways in kernels of two maize inbred lines with contrasting drought sensitivity. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 15:18892-18918. doi: 10.3390/ijms151018892.

Interpretive Summary: In the Southern US, drought, along with continuously high temperatures during reproductive development, can not only contribute to poor kernel development, but can also weaken the defense capabilities of maize against pathogen such as drought stress exacerbating the possibility and severity of Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent aflatoxin contamination. In this study, a moderate degree of drought stress with 50% reduction in irrigation water was applied in order to examine the reaction of different maize lines to the applied stress through different signaling pathways. Two lines (B73 and Lo964) with contrasting drought sensitivity were examined, and protein profiles were investigated. The numbers and levels of differentially expressed proteins were generally higher in the sensitive genotype B73, implying an increased sensitivity to drought as observed differentially expressed proteins, redox homeostasis, cell rescue/defense, hormone regulation, protein biosynthesis and degradation. Lo964 possessed more stable status with fewer differentially expressed proteins. However, B73 seems to rapidly initiate signaling pathways in response to drought through adjusting diverse defense pathways. These changes in protein expression allow for the production of a drought stress-responsive network in maize kernels.

Technical Abstract: Drought stress is a major factor which contributes to disease susceptibility and yield loss in agricultural crops. To identify drought responsive proteins and explore metabolic pathways involved in maize tolerance to drought stress, two lines (B73 and Lo964) with contrasting drought sensitivity were examined and the treatments of drought and well-watered were applied at 14 days after pollination (DAP), and protein profiles were investigated in developing kernels (35 DAP) using iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation). Proteomic analysis showed that 70 and 36 proteins were significantly altered expression under drought treatments in B73 and Lo964, respectively. The numbers and levels of differentially expressed proteins were generally higher in the sensitive genotype B73, implying an increased sensitivity to drought given the function of the observed differentially expressed proteins such as redox homeostasis, cell rescue/defense, hormone regulation, protein biosynthesis and degradation. Lo964 possessed more stable status with fewer differentially expressed proteins. However, B73 seems to rapidly initiate signaling pathways in response to drought through adjusting diverse defense pathways. These changes in protein expression allow for the production of a drought stress-responsive network in maize kernels.