Biological Networks Underlying Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Temperate Crops—A Proteomic Perspective

Abstract

Abiotic stress factors, especially low temperatures, drought, and salinity, represent the major constraints limiting agricultural production in temperate climate. Under the conditions of global climate change, the risk of damaging effects of abiotic stresses on crop production increases. Plant stress response represents an active process aimed at an establishment of novel homeostasis under altered environmental conditions. Proteins play a crucial role in plant stress response since they are directly involved in shaping the final phenotype. In the review, results of proteomic studies focused on stress response of major crops grown in temperate climate including cereals: common wheat (Triticum aestivum), durum wheat (Triticum durum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), maize (Zea mays); leguminous plants: alfalfa (Medicago sativa), soybean (Glycine max), common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), pea (Pisum sativum); oilseed rape (Brassica napus); potato (Solanum tuberosum); tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum); tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum); and others, to a wide range of abiotic stresses (cold, drought, salinity, heat, imbalances in mineral nutrition and heavy metals) are summarized. The dynamics of changes in various protein functional groups including signaling and regulatory proteins, transcription factors, proteins involved in protein metabolism, amino acid metabolism, metabolism of several stress-related compounds, proteins with chaperone and protective functions as well as structural proteins (cell wall components, cytoskeleton) are briefly overviewed. Attention is paid to the differences found between differentially tolerant genotypes. In addition, proteomic studies aimed at proteomic investigation of multiple stress factors are discussed. In conclusion, contribution of proteomic studies to understanding the complexity of crop response to abiotic stresses as well as possibilities to identify and utilize protein markers in crop breeding processes are discussed.

Proteome dynamics of cold-acclimating Rhododendron species contrasting in their freezing tolerance and thermonasty behavior

“…versus Pont. including glycolysis and mitochondrial electron transport, which is consistent with an enhanced energy demand during active cold acclimation [51]. Still, photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism are the most down-regulated processes that we observed during cold acclimation in Cata., denoting important energy and photosynthesis adjustments (Table 2).…”

Intensive herbicide use has selected for constitutively elevated levels of stress‐responsive mRNAs and proteins in multiple herbicide‐resistant Avena fatua L

“…For example, suites of genes and enzymes of redox maintenance, xenobiotic metabolism and other protective pathways are recruited, likely as a result of signal transduction changes involving abiotic stress‐specific and other transcription factors (TFs). Repeated exposure to heat, cold, salt or other abiotic stresses can lead to systemic acquired acclimation (SAA), in which plants evolve enhanced stress resistance due to constitutive, enhanced expression of the genes noted above and others . Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the associated redox regulatory signaling network play a key role in SAA, by transcriptional reprogramming and modulation of metabolism, development and defense responses .…”

Selection and Breeding of Suitable Crop Genotypes for Drought and Heat Periods in a Changing Climate: Which Morphological and Physiological Properties Should Be Considered?

“…The potential of proteomics has been increasingly exploited in search of suitable protein markers for assisted selection and breeding, thus complementing the widely used genomic tools [149][150][151][152]. Proteins are direct effectors in the processes related to cell structure and function, as well as in adaptation to the changing environment-underlying the so called phenotypic plasticity [152].…”

“…Proteins are direct effectors in the processes related to cell structure and function, as well as in adaptation to the changing environment-underlying the so called phenotypic plasticity [152]. Cell protein composition is highly dynamic and much closer to the plant phenotype than the transcript profiling.…”

“…is reached by the second generation shotgun proteomics [153][154][155]. Knowledge about dynamic changes of crop proteomes in response to abiotic stresses is regularly reviewed [131,150,152,153,156]. For that reason, our attention is mainly focused on recent proteomic reports addressing drought, heat and combined stress.…”