Application of comparative proteomics to identify proteins in phaseolus vulgaris associated with pest resistance

SUMMARY The attack of coleopteran from the bruchidae family represent one of the most important risks that farmers confront, lowering crop yield and bean quality of Phaseolus vulgaris, and affecting the production costs of this important food staple in many traditional diets. Several authors describe the presence of storage proteins from the lectins family (Phytohemagglutinins, PHA; Arcelin, Arc; and α-amylase inhibitor, αAI) as insecticidal proteins, representing a very effective means to control pest attacks during storage on many varieties of P. vulgaris. However, these investigations focus their analysis on one protein at a time, without taking into account their functional interrelationships. The present work is aided by proteomics to analyze insecticidal protein expressions in various cultivated P. vulgaris varieties. The use of 2D-immunedetection of specific insecticidal proteins has shown to be a simplified procedure to initially establish functional correlations between this group of proteins and the observed bruchid resistance phenotype.