TITLE:
Proteomic studies of arbuscular mycorrhizal associations
AUTHORS:
Manuel Sebastián Rebollo Couto, Paulo Emilio Lovato, Daniel Wipf, Eliane Dumas-Gaudot
KEYWORDS:
Mycorrhiza; Symbiosis; Proteomics; 2DE; Mass Spectrometry
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Biological Chemistry,
Vol.3 No.1,
February
26,
2013
ABSTRACT: Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are soil-borne microorganisms forming mutualistic associations
with the vast majority of land plants, including most agricultural
relevant crops. In this association the plant provides the fungus with plant
photosynthates allowing it to complete its life cycle, while the fungus provides
the plant with mineral nutrients, mainly phosphorus and can also help the
plant to tolerate biotic and abiotic stresses. In regard to these benefits
there is growing interest on the use of AM fungi to improve productivity and
sustainability in agricultural systems. AM fungi and their interactions with
plants have been extensively studied using proteomic techniques, but some
difficulties have been faced. 1) Little is known about the AM fungal typical
protein repertoire because it is currently impossible to grow AM fungi in
pure axenic cultures; 2) Plant tissues often contain high amounts of
interfering substances that make protein extraction for the study of AM interactions a difficult procedure; 3) Most nutrient exchanges between AM fungi and
their host plants involve participation of membrane proteins, still poorly
resolved in most separation techniques. Finally, 4) the formation of the
arbuscule is an asynchronous process, making it difficult to distinguish
which proteins are essential in the early or late stages of AM associations.
In this review we present a historical summary of how these difficulties have
been overcome by technological advances in proteomics and we discuss current
and future trends in the study of the proteins involved in AM interactions.