Combined Proteomic and Physiological Analysis of Chloroplasts Reveals Drought and Recovery Response Mechanisms in <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i>
Silin Chen,
Ping Li,
Shunling Tan,
Xiaojun Pu,
Ying Zhou,
Keming Hu,
Wei Huang,
Li Liu
Affiliations
Silin Chen
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China
Ping Li
Key Laboratory for Forest Resources Conservation and Utilization in the Southwest Mountains of China Ministry of Education, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
Shunling Tan
Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Xiaojun Pu
Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Ying Zhou
College of Life Science and Health, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430065, China
Keming Hu
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding, Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, College of Agriculture, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Wei Huang
Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Li Liu
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China
Chloroplasts play essential roles in plant metabolic processes and stress responses by functioning as environmental sensors. Understanding chloroplast responses to drought stress and subsequent recovery will help the ability to improve stress tolerance in plants. Here, a combined proteomic and physiological approach was used to investigate the response mechanisms of Nicotiana benthamiana chloroplasts to drought stress and subsequent recovery. Early in the stress response, changes in stomatal movement were accompanied by immediate changes in protein synthesis to sustain the photosynthetic process. Thereafter, increasing drought stress seriously affected photosynthetic efficiency and led to altered expression of photosynthesis- and carbon-fixation-related proteins to protect the plants against photo-oxidative damage. Additional repair mechanisms were activated at the early stage of recovery to restore physiological functions and repair drought-induced damages, even while the negative effects of drought stress were still ongoing. Prolonging the re-watering period led to the gradual recovery of photosynthesis at both physiological and protein levels, indicating that a long repair process is required to restore plant function. Our findings provide a precise view of drought and recovery response mechanisms in N. benthamiana and serve as a reference for further investigation into the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying plant drought tolerance.
