Dynamic proteomic analysis reveals a switch between central carbon metabolism and alcoholic fermentation in rice filling grains

Plant Physiol. 2008 Oct;148(2):908-25. doi: 10.1104/pp.108.125633. Epub 2008 Aug 27.

Abstract

Accumulation of reserve materials in filling grains involves the coordination of different metabolic and cellular processes, and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the interconnections remains a major challenge for proteomics. Rice (Oryza sativa) is an excellent model for studying grain filling because of its importance as a staple food and the available genome sequence database. Our observations showed that embryo differentiation and endosperm cellularization in developing rice seeds were completed approximately 6 d after flowering (DAF); thereafter, the immature seeds mainly underwent cell enlargement and reached the size of mature seeds at 12 DAF. Grain filling began at 6 DAF and lasted until 20 DAF. Dynamic proteomic analyses revealed 396 protein spots differentially expressed throughout eight sequential developmental stages from 6 to 20 DAF and determined 345 identities. These proteins were involved in different cellular and metabolic processes with a prominently functional skew toward metabolism (45%) and protein synthesis/destination (20%). Expression analyses of protein groups associated with different functional categories/subcategories showed that substantially up-regulated proteins were involved in starch synthesis and alcoholic fermentation, whereas the down-regulated proteins in the process were involved in central carbon metabolism and most of the other functional categories/subcategories such as cell growth/division, protein synthesis, proteolysis, and signal transduction. The coordinated changes were consistent with the transition from cell growth and differentiation to starch synthesis and clearly indicated that a switch from central carbon metabolism to alcoholic fermentation may be important for starch synthesis and accumulation in the developmental process.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / metabolism*
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Fermentation*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Oryza / genetics
  • Oryza / metabolism*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Proteomics
  • RNA, Plant / genetics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Seeds / genetics
  • Seeds / metabolism*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Starch / biosynthesis
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • RNA, Plant
  • Carbon
  • Starch