Abstract
Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to identify differentially displayed proteins of Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 in the symbiotic and non-symbiotic status. When the proteome maps were compared and characterization of the bacteroid specific proteins was performed by N-terminal amino acid sequencing and matrix-assisted desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry peptide mass fingerprint analysis, putative identity was assigned to 61 bacteroid protein spots. These include many metabolic proteins and ABC transporters as well as nitrogenase proteins like NifH. This work shows that proteome analysis will be a useful tool for survey genes contributing to rhizobial functions in symbiosis.
