Identification of proteins expressed at extremely low level in Arabidopsis leaves

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2007 Jul 6;358(3):808-12. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.04.189. Epub 2007 May 7.

Abstract

2-DE related techniques have been broadly used for protein separation and identification in recent years. However, many important cellular components often escape detection by 2-DE due to its inherent low resolution. Here we use a polyU-affinity column to enrich proteins with nucleotide-binding motifs. As a result, 26 enriched protein spots, including three new Arabidopsis RNA-binding proteins cp31A, cp31B, and CSP41, are identified by MALDI-TOF-MS. In the sum, 15 protein spots encoded by 12 individual genes are observed on the 2-DE only after binding to the polyU-affinity column. Two of these genes are expressed at lower than 0.1% the level of TUB4 that were considered mainly as non-expressed genes in several ATH1 microarray analysis of Arabidopsis leaf samples. Our results suggest that polyU or similar media may be combined with 2-DE techniques to identify cellular proteins with extremely low transcription levels to fulfill specific research needs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arabidopsis / genetics*
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Plant Leaves / metabolism*
  • Poly U / metabolism
  • RNA / metabolism
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Substances

  • Poly U
  • RNA