Identification of differentially expressed proteins in a mat1-2-deleted strain of Gibberella zeae, using a comparative proteomics analysis

• Published in: Current genetics Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 175 - 184
• Main Authors: Lee, Seung-Ho, Kim, Yong-Kook, Yun, Sung-Hwan, Lee, Yin-Won
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.03.2008; Springer-Verlag; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Cell walls; Cereal crops; Disease control; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; Environmental stress; Fungal Proteins - genetics; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Fungal Proteins - physiology; Gene Deletion; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; Gibberella - genetics; Gibberella - growth & development; Gibberella - metabolism; Gibberella zeae; Life Sciences; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Plant Sciences; Proteins; Proteome - analysis; Proteomics; Reproduction - physiology; Research Article; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Proteomics analysis; Sexual reproduction; Mating type gene
• ISSN: 0172-8083; 1432-0983
• DOI: 10.1007/s00294-008-0176-z

Gibberella zeae is a self-fertile ascomycetous fungus that causes important diseases of cereal crops. A comprehensive understanding of sexual reproduction in G. zeae is needed for disease control. To identify fungal proteins involved in this process, we compared the protein profiles of a wild-type strain and its self-sterile strain deleted for MAT1-2, a master regulator of sexual reproduction in G. zeae. Using 2-DE and either MALDI-TOF or ESI-Q-TOF MS, we identified 13 protein spots that showed statistically significant differences in expression levels between the two strains; 11 were reduced and two were increased in abundance in the ΔMAT1-2 strain. Six of the 13 proteins were similar to those related to cell wall structure and the others were orthologs of proteins involved in metabolism or environmental stress responses. We confirmed that all the genes of the proteins examined were down-regulated during the sexual development stage in the ΔMAT1-2, ΔMAT1-1, and other strains deleted for a MAP kinase or a G-protein gene. These data suggest that differences in the protein expression levels are mostly affected by down-regulation of the corresponding genes in the ΔMAT1-2 strain. To date, this is the first proteomics approach successfully identifying proteins differentially regulated by MAT1-2 in G. zeae.