Quinua seeds: Identification of proteins related to abiotic stress and storage accumulation

PALACIOS B; SILVEIRA V; RIZZO A; ZELADA A; MORA VALE E; BURRIEZA H

Simposio; Second International Quinoa Research Symposium; 2020

Washington State University

Quinoa seed development, metabolism, and germination is of pivotal interest not only for the better understanding of mechanisms involved but also to achieve the best crop performance in a world of constantly-growing population. Even though some essential information about quinoa?s seed metabolism and development has been gathered in different areas, the obtention of in-depth molecular information remains an essential step to pursue future research and development in this species. In this work, we identified approximately 300 proteins present in four different genotypes of quinoa seeds from four different locations in South America via shotgun proteomics. The results were categorized and analyzed according to the functions of the protein, and their associated metabolic pathways, resulting in six main categories: carbohydrate metabolism and storage, protein metabolism and storage, lipid metabolism and storage, oxidative stress, late embryogenesis proteins (LEAs) and others. Results show a seed with a high abundance of storage proteins as well as other associated with starch biosynthesis, oil-bodies, LEAs, chaperones, translation machinery, and basic metabolic pathways as glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, B-oxidation of fatty acids, redox homeostasis and others. This work analyzed the data by associating every protein of interest not only to a biological function but also to their contribution in different stages of seed development and germination.