Plant proteomic responses to signal compounds lipo-chito-oligosaccharide and thuricin Sowmyalakshmi Subramanian

Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCO) and thuricin 17 (Th17) are bacterial signal compounds secreted by the rhizosphere bacteria of soybean, Bradyrhizobium japonicum 532C and Bacillus thuringiensis NEB17. At femtomolar concentrations these signal compounds promote plant growth and impart salt stress tolerance to Arabidopsis, soybean, corn and tomato. In all these studies, seeds and plants at the vegetative stage of growth were the most positively and visually affected. In each of these plants, the proteome responses vary depending on the abiotic stressors such as salt, drought and low temperature stress; the carbon, nitrogen and energy metabolic pathways were affected. Some of the key upregulated proteins in LCO and Th17 treated samples, in comparison with control, were ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit, ATP synthase β-subunit and chlorophyll a/b binding protein type II, along with shifts in stress proteins specific to each of these stressors. In soybean plants, the protein shifts were circadian specific under optimal plant growth conditions. The specificity of these responses plays crucial roles in organ maturation and transition from one stage to another in the plants' life cycles. This understanding of the response of biostimulants is a crucial component in agriculture and to address global food production. This talk summarizes some of the key findings of the proteomics work done on these two signaling compounds.

Take Away Notes:
• Learn the response of plants proteins to biostimulants under optimal and stressed conditions.
• From the research perspective, the research adds to functional interpretation to protein modulation during a biostimulant response.
• From the industrial perspective, this is another step to identify why the biostimulant is working the way it is under a given condition. This will further help address biostimulant formulation strategies and the crops that might be benefitted according to soil conditions.