Comparative proteomic analysis of melon phloem exudates in response to viral infection

Abstract

Despite the importance of phloem as an integrative pathway for resource distribution, signaling and plant virus transport little is known about the modifications induced by these pathogens in phloem sap proteome. Only one previous study has actually examined the phloem sap proteome during viral infection using conventional two-dimensional electrophoresis. Since the major limitation of this technique has been its low sensitivity, the authors only identified five phloem proteins with altered abundance. To circumvent this issue we use two-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) technique, which combined with DeCyder Differential Analysis Software allows a more accurate and sensitive quantitative analysis than with conventional 2D PAGE. We identified 19 different proteins which accumulation in phloem sap was altered during a compatible plant virus infection including redox and hypersensitivity response-related proteins. Therefore, this work would help to understand the basic processes that occur in phloem during plant-virus interaction. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.