Plant Cell Wall Proteomics: A Focus on Monocot Species, Brachypodium distachyon, Saccharum spp. and Oryza sativa

Abstract

Plant cell walls mostly comprise polysaccharides and proteins. The composition of monocots' primary cell walls differs from that of dicots walls with respect to the type of hemicelluloses, the reduction of pectin abundance and the presence of aromatic molecules. Cell wall proteins (CWPs) differ among plant species, and their distribution within functional classes varies according to cell types, organs, developmental stages and/or environmental conditions. In this review, we go deeper into the findings of cell wall proteomics in monocot species and make a comparative analysis of the CWPs identified, considering their predicted functions, the organs analyzed, the plant developmental stage and their possible use as targets for biofuel production. Arabidopsis thaliana CWPs were considered as a reference to allow comparisons among different monocots, i.e., Brachypodium distachyon, Saccharum spp. and Oryza sativa. Altogether, 1159 CWPs have been acknowledged, and specificities and similarities are discussed. In particular, a search for A. thaliana homologs of CWPs identified so far in monocots allows the definition of monocot CWPs characteristics. Finally, the analysis of monocot CWPs appears to be a powerful tool for identifying candidate proteins of interest for tailoring cell walls to increase biomass yield of transformation for second-generation biofuels production.

Keywords: Brachypodium distachyon; Oryza sativa; Saccharum spp.; monocot; plant cell wall; proteome; rice; stiff brome; sugarcane.

Figure 1

Percentage of CWP functional classes in the species A. thaliana (a), B. distachyon (b), Saccharum spp. (c) and O. sativa (d). Plant drawings are not to scale. Functional class abbreviations: proteins acting on carbohydrates (PACs), oxidoreductases (ORs), proteases (Ps), proteins related to lipid metabolism (LMs), proteins possibly involved in signaling (Ss), proteins with predicted interaction domains (IDs), miscellaneous proteins (Ms), proteins of unknown function (UFs) and structural proteins (SPs).