A proteome study of the proliferation of cultured Medicago truncatula protoplasts

A proteome study of the first five days of Medicago truncatula protoplast cultures was done to investigate molecular changes taking place during protoplast proliferation. A total of 1556 protein spots were analysed, of which 886 protein spots showed significant (p<0.005) changes in abundance at some time during the first five days of protoplast culture. Of the 886 significantly changing protein spots, 89 proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF MS. The majority of the identified proteins were part of four main cellular processes that may be involved in protoplast proliferation: energy metabolism, defence or stress response, secondary metabolism and protein synthesis and folding. The accumulation pattern of these proteins indicates extensive changes in the energy metabolism of the cells, accompanied by the activation of stress response pathways and modifications of the cell wall. In addition, seven PR10-like (pathogenesis related) proteins were identified. The accumulation pattern of these seven PR10-like proteins suggests that they could have a developmental role during protoplast proliferation.