Title:Engineering Crops for the Future: A Phosphoproteomics Approach
Volume: 19
Issue: 4
Author(s): Vinay Kumar*, Tushar Khare, Mansi Sharma and Shabir H. Wani*
Affiliation:
- Department of Biotechnology, Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce (Savitribai Phule Pune University), Ganeshkhind, Pune 411016,India
- Department of Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI,United States
Keywords:
Abiotic stress, protein phosphorylation, phosphoproteins, phosphoproteomics, transgenics, crop species.
Abstract: Abiotic stresses like salinity, drought, heat, metal ions, radiation and oxidative stress, and especially
their combinations, are major limiting factors for growth and productivity of the crops. Various
molecular and biochemical processes governing the plant responses to abiotic stresses have often been
investigated and hold the key for producing high-yielding and abiotic stress-tolerant crops. Plant responses
to abiotic stresses are dynamic and intricate, and vary with type, level, and duration of the stress
involved, as well as on the type of tissue under stress. However, one biochemical indicator common to
all stresses is definite and controlled protein phosphorylation which is generally transmitted by highly
complex protein kinase cascades. In recent years, using different biochemical as well as computational
tools, many of such phosphoproteins are identified and characterized with respect to abiotic stresses.
Subsequently, an upsurge has been witnessed in recent times for phosphoproteomics repositories or databases.
The use of this crucial knowledge about such proteins and their phosphorylation sites is one of
the promising ways for crop engineering against abiotic stress. Several reports have described abiotic
stress-induced transcriptome, proteome and phosphoproteome changes in plants subjected to these stress
factors. However, the investigations to assess precise phosphoproteomics deviations in response to environmental
stresses and their implementation for crop improvement are limited. The present review
summarizes and discusses the recent developments in deciphering abiotic stress induced changes in
plant phosphoproteome besides development of phosphoproteomics tools and their repositories. A critical
assessment of targeting phosphoproteins for crop improvement and phosphoproteomics mediated
enhanced abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic plants has been presented.
