Analysis of differentially expressed proteins in the pollen of Malus spectabilis (crabapples) and Malus domestica (‘Gala’ apples) and their role in pollination

ABSTRACT

Our objective was to study the differentially expressed proteins (DEP) in various Malus spectabilis (crabapple) varieties (M. ‘Snowdrift’, M. ‘Hongling’ and M. ‘Hongjin’) in relation to Malus domestica (‘Gala’) and their role in pollination. Our method used a two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) to analyse the differential proteins in the pollen of several crabapples. The 2-DE apples combined with the tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) and protein database retrieval helped us to identify the nature and function of DEPs in ‘Gala’ apples and crabapples. We identified 1195 proteins through 2-DE. Among these, six DEPs, namely chloroplast ferritin, Actin, Beta-fructofuranosidase, vacuolarH+-ATPase catalytic subunit, Full = Phosphoglucomutase, and Cytochrome b were identified by MS-MS. This study identified six DEPs among the pollen from the ‘Snowdrift’ crabapple, ‘Hongling’ crabapple, ‘Hongjin’ crabapple, and ‘Gala’ apples. The DEPs included metabolism related proteins, stress/regulatory proteins, and proteins involved in signal transduction.

KEYWORDS:

• pollen
• differentially expressed protein
• 2-DE
• tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS)
• pollination

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National nonprofit industry projects (201303093) and National Science and Technology Support Project (2014BAD16B02).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National nonprofit industry projects [201303093]; National Science and Technology Support Project [2014BAD16B02].