Crop proteomics: aim at sustainable agriculture of tomorrow

The advent of proteomics has made it possible to identify a broad spectrum of proteins in living systems. This capability is especially useful for crops as it may give clues not only about nutritional value, but also about yield and how these factors are affected by adverse conditions. In this review, we describe the recent progress in crop proteomics and highlight the achievements made in understanding the proteomes of major crops. The major emphasis will be on crop responses to abiotic stresses. Rigorous genetic testing of the role of possibly important proteins can be conducted. The increasing ease with the DNA, mRNA and protein levels can be conducted and connected suggests that proteomics data will not be difficult to apply to practical crop breeding.