Quantitative proteomic analysis of two different rice varieties reveals that drought tolerance is correlated with reduced abundance of photosynthetic machinery and increased abundance of ClpD1 protease

Rice is the major staple food for more than half of world's population. As global climate changes, we are observing more floods, droughts and severe heat waves. Two rice cultivars with contrasting genetic backgrounds and levels of tolerance to drought, Nipponbare and IAC1131, were used in this study. Four-week-old seedlings of both cultivars were grown in large soil volumes and then exposed to moderate and extreme drought for 7 days, followed by 3 days of re-watering. Mature leaves were harvested from plants from each treatment for protein extraction and subsequent shotgun proteomic analysis, with validation of selected proteins by western blotting. Gene Ontology (GO) annotations of differentially expressed proteins provide insights into the metabolic pathways that are involved in drought stress resistance. Our data indicate that IAC1131 appears to be better able to cope with stressful conditions by upregulating a suite of stress and defence response related proteins. Nipponbare, in contrast, lacks the range of stress responses shown by the more stress tolerant variety, and responds to drought stress by initiating a partial shutdown of chlorophyll biosynthesis in an apparent attempt to preserve resources.10 page(s