A Proteomic Analysis of Leaf Responses to Enhanced Ultraviolet-B Radiation in Two Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Cultivars Differing in UV Sensitivity

To determine the proteomic response to UV irradiation, two cultivars, i.e., Lemont (UV tolerant) and Dular (UV sensitive), were exposed to natural and enhanced ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiation for 1, 7, and 14 days, and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) and bioinformatics were used to compare the different proteomic responses in the leaves of the two cultivars. Thirty-nine proteins were up- or downregulated following the UV-B treatments. Among them, 30 increased or decreased more than 1.5-fold in abundance. They were further tested by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight MS and performed a database search. Twenty-four proteins were thus identified. These identified proteins were mostly upregulated in Lemont, whereas only 14 of them upregulated in Dular. Nine proteins involved in glycometabolism and fatty acid metabolisms, signal transduction, and protein synthesis and folding in Dular were not changed. These results suggest that there was a complex regulative mechanism on the proteomes in rice leaves upon UV-B exposure.