Abstract
Phytopathogenic fungi such as Fusarium species synthesize trichothecene family phytotoxins. We are investigating the mode of action of trichothecene in Fusarium-susceptible Arabidopsis. The necrotic lesion formations were observed in these trichothecene-infiltrated leaves. Those lesions exhibited induction of cell deaths, generation of hydrogen peroxides, activation of two MAPKs and induction of defense genes in Arabidopsis leaves. In this study, we perfomed a 2D-LC method for differential display of protein expression during trichothecene-induced cell death in Arabidopsis. The method involves fractionation according to pI using chromatofocusing in the first dimension followed by separation of proteins in each pI fraction using nonporous reversed phase HPLC. A 2D map of protein content of each sample based on pI versus hydrophobicity as detected by UV absorption was generated. A differential display 2D map indicated the presence of up- or down-regulated proteins during these cell deaths. Furthermore, we tried to identify these proteins by MALDI-TOF/MS.
