Rice proteomics: current status and future perspectives

Rice, the first cereal crop genome to be decoded, has attracted the attention of researchers worldwide because of its immense socio-economic impact on human existence. With the availability of the draft genome sequence of two major types, japonica- and indica-rice, "rice proteomics" has entered into the era of functional genomics. Although during the last decade an important but limited progress (mainly construction of protein datafiles) has been made in the field of rice proteomics, it is only recently that dedicated research groups have taken this challenge to systematically analyze the rice proteome at the cell (and organelle), tissue, and whole plant level. Important gains achieved by the accelerated technological progress in protein separation and identification will help in going beyond the simple cataloguing of rice proteins in realistic terms. In this review, we discuss the progress made in the field of rice proteomics to date and dwell upon the future direction/problems/approaches towards defining the rice proteome.