Proteome analysis of the large and the small rubber particles of Hevea brasiliensis using 2D-DIGE

The rubber particle is a specialized organelle in which natural rubber is synthesised and stored in the laticifers of Hevea brasiliensis (para rubber tree). It has been demonstrated that the small rubber particles (SRPs) has higher rubber biosynthesis ratio than the large rubber particles (LRPs), but the underlying molecular mechanism still remains unknown. In this study, LRPs and SRPs were firstly separated from the fresh latex using differential centrifugation, and two-dimensional difference in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF was then applied to investigate the proteomic alterations associated with the changed rubber biosynthesis capacity between LRPs and SRPs. A total of 53 spots corresponding to 22 gene products, were significantly altered with the |ratio| ≥ 2.0 and T value ≤0.05, among which 15 proteins were up-regulated and 7 were down-regulated in the SRPs compared with the LRPs. The 15 up-regulated proteins in the SRPs included small rubber particle protein (SRPP), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGCS), phospholipase D alpha (PLD α), ethylene response factor 2, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A isoform IV (eIF 5A-4), 70-kDa heat shock cognate protein (HSC 70), several unknown proteins, etc., whereas the 7 up-regulated proteins in the LRPs were rubber elongation factor (REF, 19.6 kDa), ASR-like protein 1, REF-like stress-related protein 1, a putative phosphoglyceride transfer family protein, β-1,3-glucanase, a putative retroelement, and a hypothetical protein. Since several proteins related to rubber biosynthesis were differentially expressed between LRPs and SRPs, the comparative proteome data may provide useful insights into understanding the mechanism involved in rubber biosynthesis and latex coagulation in H. brasiliensis.