Digging for Stress-Responsive Cell Wall Proteins for Developing Stress-Resistant Maize

Abstract

As a vital component of plant cell walls, proteins play important roles in stress response by modifying the structure of cell walls and involving in the wall integrity signaling pathway. Recently, we have critically reviewed the predictors, databases, and cross-referencing of the subcellular locations of possible cell wall proteins (CWPs) in plants (Briefings in Bioinformatics 2018;19:1130-1140). Here, we briefly introduce strategies for isolating CWPs during proteomic analysis. Taking maize (Zea mays) as an example, we retrieved 1873 probable maize CWPs recorded in the UniProt KnowledgeBase (UniProtKB). After curation, 863 maize CWPs were identified and classified into 59 kinds of protein families. By referring to gene ontology (GO) annotations and gene differential expression in the Expression Atlas, we have highlighted the potential of CWPs acting in the front line of defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, the analysis results of cis-acting elements revealed the responsiveness of the genes encoding CWPs toward phytohormones and various stresses. We suggest that the stress-responsive CWPs could be promising candidates for applications in developing varieties of stress-resistant maize.

Keywords: stress-responsive proteins; Zea mays; abiotic and biotic stresses; cell wall; stress-resistant crops.

Figure 1

Molecular function, subcellular location, and possible roles of representative Maize cell wall proteins (CWPs) in stress responses. The subcellular location of proteins is asserted according to the annotation in UniProtKB or predicted using the server HybridGO-Loc. The molecular function and involvement of CWPs in a specific stress were summarized according to the gene ontology (GO) annotation and gene differential expression in Expression Atlas