Abstract
Biological processes are not only performed by the cooperation of individual proteins, but also performed by various protein complexes. Notably, the chloroplast is the place where photosynthesis occurs and also the place where many other metabolic pathways are inter-connected via the metabolic products. Therefore, it is an intriguing challenge to detect the uncharacterized protein complexes in the chloroplast for understanding the regulation of photosynthesis and the metabolic flows. However, conventional approaches for comprehensive detection of the protein complexes are often time-consuming, labor-intensive process.
Here, I have developed the rapid method by combination of BN-PAGE, LC-MS/MS, and bioinformatics. In the preliminary experiment using Arabidopsis thylakoid membranes, we successfully detected the known protein complexes including the core complexes and light-harvesting complexes of photosystems I and II, cytochrome b6/f, NAD(P)H dehydrogenase complex, and ATP synthase. I would like to talk about the present status and future prospects of this development for investigating the protein-protein interaction networks.
