Proteomics as a tool to monitor plant-microbe endosymbioses in the rhizosphere.

In recent years, outstanding molecular approaches have been used to investigate genes and functions involved in plant-microbe endosymbioses. In this review, we outline the use of proteomic analysis, based on two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, to characterize symbiosis-related proteins. During the last decade, proteomics succeeded in identifying about 400 proteins associated with the development and functioning of both mycorrhizal and rhizobial symbioses. Further progress in prefractionation procedures is expected to allow the detection of symbiotic proteins showing low abundance or being present in certain cell compartments.