Ahsan Nagib, Renaut Jenny, Komatsu Setsuko
National Institute of Crop Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
Proteomics. 2009 May;9(10):2602-21. doi: 10.1002/pmic.200800935.
Pollution of soils by heavy metals is an ever-growing problem throughout the world, and is the result of human activities as well as geochemical weathering of rocks and other environmental causes such as volcanic eruptions, acid rain and continental dusts. Plants everywhere are continuously exposed to metal-contaminated soils. The uptake of heavy metals not only constrains crop yields, but can also be a major hazard to the health of humans and to the entire ecosystem. Although analysis of gene expression at the mRNA level has enhanced our understanding of the response of plants to heavy metals, many questions regarding the functional translated portions of plant genomes under metal stress remain unanswered. Proteomics offers a new platform for studying complex biological functions involving large numbers and networks of proteins, and can serve as a key tool for revealing the molecular mechanisms that are involved in interactions between toxic metals and plant species. This review focuses on recent developments in the applications of proteomics to the analysis of the responses of plants to heavy metals; such studies provide a deeper understanding of protein responses and the interactions among the possible pathways that are involved in detoxification of toxic metals in plant cells. In addition, the challenges faced by proteomics in understanding the responses of plants to toxic metal are discussed, and some possible future strategies for meeting these challenges are proposed.
重金属对土壤的污染在全球范围内日益严重，这是人类活动以及岩石地球化学风化和火山爆发、酸雨、大陆沙尘等其他环境因素共同作用的结果。世界各地的植物不断接触受金属污染的土壤。重金属的吸收不仅会限制作物产量，还可能对人类健康和整个生态系统构成重大危害。尽管对mRNA水平基因表达的分析增进了我们对植物对重金属反应的理解，但在金属胁迫下植物基因组功能翻译部分的许多问题仍未得到解答。蛋白质组学为研究涉及大量蛋白质和蛋白质网络的复杂生物学功能提供了一个新平台，并且可以作为揭示有毒金属与植物物种之间相互作用所涉及分子机制的关键工具。本综述重点关注蛋白质组学在分析植物对重金属反应方面的最新进展；此类研究能让我们更深入地了解蛋白质反应以及植物细胞中有毒金属解毒可能涉及的途径之间的相互作用。此外，还讨论了蛋白质组学在理解植物对有毒金属反应时面临的挑战，并提出了应对这些挑战的一些未来可能策略。
