Self-incompatibility (SI) in plants genetically prevents self-fertilization to promote outcrossing and genetic diversity. Its hybrids in Brassica have been widely cultivated due to the propagation of SI lines by spraying a salt solution. We demonstrated that suppression of Brassica napus SI from edible salt solution treatment was ascribed to sodium chloride and independent of S haplotypes, but it did not obviously change the expression of SI-related genes. Using the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technique, we identified 885 differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) in Brassica napus stigmas of un-pollinated (UP), pollinated with compatible pollen (PC), pollinated with incompatible pollen (PI), and pollinated with incompatible pollen after edible salt solution treatment (NA). Of the 307 DAPs in NA/UP, 134 were unique and 94 were shared only with PC/UP. In PC and NA, some salt stress protein species, such as glyoxalase I, were induced, and these protein species were likely to participate in the self-compatibility (SC) pathway. Most of the identified protein species were related to metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, ribosome, and so on. A systematic analysis implied that salt treatment-overcoming SI in B.napus was likely conferred by at least five different physiological mechanisms: (i) the use of Ca2+ as signal molecule; (ii) loosening of the cell wall to allow pollen tube penetration; (iii) synthesis of compatibility factor protein species for pollen tube growth; (iv) depolymerization of microtubule networks to facilitate pollen tube movement; and (v) inhibition of protein degradation pathways to restrain the SI response.
Keywords: Brassica napus; iTRAQ; salt; self-compatibility; self-incompatibility; stigma.