Leaf proteome profiling of transgenic mint infected with Alternaria alternata.

ThegenusMenthahasbeenwidelyusedinfood,flavor,culinary,cosmeticandpharmaceuticalindustries.Substantialdamagetothiscrophappenedregularlyduetoenvironmentalstresseslike metal toxicity and pathogen attack. Here, an approach has been taken to raise transgenicmint over-expressing γ-glutamyl-cysteine synthetase (γ-ECS), the rate-limiting enzyme ofGSH biosynthesis, resulted enhanced GSH content and its in planta expression conferssignificant tolerance towards abiotic/biotic stresses viz. metal toxicity — Cd, Zn as well asagainst infection of Alternaria alternata and Rhizoctonia solani. A differential proteomic analysisthrough2-DEandMALDITOF–TOFMSMSwasperformedtofocusonthealteredabundanceoffunctionally important protein species in control and infected transgenic mint. Resultsshowed a significant variation in the protein profile of the infected transgenic plant ascompared to the wild/control transgenic counterpart. In addition to protein species related tostress and defense, redox regulation, transcription factors and energy & metabolism, proteinspeciesrelatedtosignalingandgeneregulationaswellascelldivisionalsoshoweddifferentialaccumulation in infected transgenic. Hence, proteomics can be used as a tool to decipher themechanismof action ofGSH inprovidingtolerance against a necrotrophic fungus,A. alternatain transgenic mint.Biological significanceThe reported work describes a comparative proteomics of non-model unsequenced plantslike Mentha. There is a comparative protein profile between transgenic and its wildcounterparts under control and infected condition. The work has an impact in cropproteomics and also tries to explain the application of proteomic approach to decipher themechanism by which a foreign metabolite mediates stress tolerance in plant under controland infected condition.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Translational Plant Proteomics.© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Keywords:MintTransgenicEnvironmental stressDifferential proteomics