Quantitative Proteomics Reveals that GmENO2 Proteins Are Involved in Response to Phosphate Starvation in the Leaves of<i> Glycine max </i>L<i>.</i>

• Main Authors: Ling Cheng, Wanling Min, Man Li, Lili Zhou, Chuan-Chih Hsu, Xuelian Yang, Xue Jiang, Zhijie Ruan, Yongjia Zhong, Zhi-Yong Wang, Wenfei Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: soybean; phosphate starvation; ENO2; enolase; quantitative proteomics
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/2/920

Soybean (<i>Glycine max </i>L.) is a major crop providing important source for protein and oil for human life. Low phosphate (LP) availability is a critical limiting factor affecting soybean production. Soybean plants develop a series of strategies to adapt to phosphate (Pi) limitation condition. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for LP stress response remain largely unknown. Here, we performed a label-free quantification (LFQ) analysis of soybean leaves grown under low and high phosphate conditions. We identified 267 induced and 440 reduced differential proteins from phosphate-starved leaves. Almost a quarter of the LP decreased proteins are involved in translation processes, while the LP increased proteins are accumulated in chlorophyll biosynthetic and carbon metabolic processes. Among these induced proteins, an enolase protein, GmENO2a was found to be mostly induced protein. On the transcriptional level, <i>GmENO2a</i> and <i>GmENO2b,</i> but not<i> GmENO2c</i> or <i>GmENO2d,</i> were dramatically induced by phosphate starvation. Among 14 enolase genes, only <i>GmENO2a </i>and <i>GmENO2b</i> genes contain the P1BS motif in their promoter regions. Furthermore, <i>GmENO2b</i> was specifically induced in the <i>GmPHR31 </i>overexpressing soybean plants. Our findings provide molecular insights into how soybean plants tune basic carbon metabolic pathway to adapt to Pi deprivation through the ENO2 enzymes.