The study of protein response of sunflower root to drought stress using proteomics approach

In order to understand of the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in sunflower, proteomic pattern of roots in two drought sensitive and drought-tolerant lines were evaluated under limited and favorable water conditions. After 2DE and comparison of relative abundance of protein spots using t test, 12 of 417 protein spots in sensitive and 17 of 467 in tolerant line were affected by drought stress significantly. Following nano-LC MS/MS the protein spots were identified using Mascot search engine in NCBI protein database considering more than 10 % sequence coverage and score of above 80. Cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins were the most proteins which were affected by water deficiency. Three protein spots i.e. Enolase, Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and Chalcone synthase were expressed differentially in these lines. Reduction of Enolase as a sign of metabolic impairment could be resulted in downstream process under drought stress. Increased expression of Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and Chalcone synthase could have a role in detoxification/removal of oxidative destruction and antioxidant capability of the tolerant line. Increased level of heat shock protein, dihydroflavonol reductase, Seed linoleate 9S-lipoxygenase, Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase and G protein indicated crucial role of defensive, protective and transductive process in reduction of drought injuries.