PROTEOMICS IN PLANT BIOLOGY

As in microbiology, zoology, and medicine, proteomics in plant biology has become more and more important for investigating molecular physiology. Proteomics is based on (1) protein extraction, (2) high-resolution protein separations, (3) efficient protein identification, and (4) bioinformatics for data processing. Several prerequisites for proteome analyses were very much improved during the last years, for example, the introduction of immobilized pH gradient gels for isoelectric focusing (IEF) and protein mass spectrometry (MS). Furthermore, the recent completion of genome sequencing projects for Arabidopsis thaliana (1) and rice (2,3) is an important step in facilitating efficient protein identifications. Proteome analyses have been used successfully for several physiological and genetic studies in plants (reviewed in refs.4 and 5).