Abstract
Root tissues of higher plants have advanced adaptive and defensive mechanisms to drought stress, since root development is usually less inhibited than shoot growth under such conditions. Wild watermelon plants (Citrullus lanatus sp. No101117-1) can survive severe drought. In this study, we analyzed drought-responsible proteins in the root tissues of wild watermelon by the proteomic approach. Two-week-old wild watermelon plants were exposed to the drought stress by stopping watering for 3 days and the root extracts were subjected to 2-D gel electrophoresis. In the soluble fraction, the intensities of 66 spots were increased by the stress treatment. Interestingly, most of the proteins that were induced after 1 day of the stress were those predicted to be involved in metabolic pathways and root development. On the other hand, various HSPs and ROS-scavenging enzymes were found in the spots that were treated much longer.
