Long-term effects of simulated acid rain stress on a staple forest plant, Pinus massoniana Lamb: a proteomic analysis

Abstract

At present, acid rain has become one of the top ten global environmental issues. Acid rain causes slower growth, injury, or decline of forests. Some dramatic effects on forests have been observed in south China since the late 1970s and the situation is deteriorating. We carried out a comparative proteomic analysis on Pinus massoniana Lamb, a staple tree species widely distributed in middle and south China to gain a better understanding of tree response to acid rain at molecular level. Two-year-old P. massoniana saplings were treated with simulated AR (SiAR) or control solution, respectively, for 8 months. The changes in total protein profile of P. massoniana leaves were studied using two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE). Among the total protein spots reproducibly detected on each gel, 65 spots representing 28 proteins were identified to be differentially regulated. These proteins were annotated in various biological functions, such as photosynthesis and energy metabolism, secondary metabolism, protein stability, amino acid and nitrogen metabolism and defense. Down-regulation of four key enzymes in the Calvin cycle identified that biomass loss by SiAR was mainly due to the inhibition of carbon fixation. Primary energy metabolisms involved in sucrose biosynthesis, glycolytic pathway and Krebs cycle, etc., were also disturbed after SiAR treatment. Specifically, most of up-regulated proteins were related to secondary metabolism, protein stability and defense, suggesting that in response to SiAR stress, plants started a variety of metabolic pathways to prevent cells from damage. Different from the herbaceous plants suffering SiAR, it revealed that secondary metabolites in P. massoniana play pivotal roles against SiAR. Protemoic techniques were demonstrated a reliable and robust tool to expand our understanding of differentially expressed proteins associated with acid rain stress on P. massoniana. Functional analysis of these proteins further revealed biochemical and physiological basis of the plant in response to acid rain and would provide strategies for breeding new acid rain tolerant tree species. To our knowledge, it is the first proteome report on the forest plant suffering long-term acid rain stress.

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