Proteome scale identification, classification and structural analysis of iron-binding proteins in bread wheat

Abstract Bread wheat is one of the major staple foods of worldwide population and iron plays a significant role in growth and development of the plant. In this report, we are presenting the genome wide identification of iron-binding proteins in bread wheat. The wheat genome derived putative proteome was screened for identification of iron-binding sequence motifs. Out of 602 putative iron-binding proteins, 130 were able to produce reliable structural models by homology techniques and further analyzed for the presence of iron-binding structural motifs. The computationally identified proteins appear to bind to ferrous and ferric ions and showed diverse coordination geometries. Glu, His, Asp and Cys amino acid residues were found to be mostly involved in iron binding. We have classified these proteins on the basis of their localization in the different cellular compartments. The identified proteins were further classified into their protein folds, families and functional classes ranging from structure maintenance of cellular components, regulation of gene expression, post translational modification, membrane proteins, enzymes, signaling and storage proteins. This comprehensive report regarding structural iron binding proteome provides useful insights into the diversity of iron binding proteins of wheat plants and further utilized to study their roles in plant growth, development and physiology.