Analysis of the pumpkin phloem proteome provides insights into angiosperm sieve tube function

Increasing evidence suggests that proteins present in the angiosperm sieve tube system play an important role in the long distance signaling system of plants. To identify the nature of these putatively non-cell-autonomous proteins, we adopted a large scale proteomics approach to analyze pumpkin phloem exudates. Phloem proteins were fractionated by fast protein liquid chromatography using both anion and cation exchange columns and then either in-solution or in-gel digested following further separation by SDS-PAGE. A total of 345 LC-MS/MS data sets were analyzed using a combination of Mascot and X!Tandem against the NCBI non-redundant green plant database and an extensive Cucurbit maxima expressed sequence tag database. In this analysis, 1,209 different consensi were obtained of which 1,121 could be annotated from GenBank and BLAST search analyses against three plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, rice (Oryza sativa), and poplar (Populus trichocarpa). Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analyses identified sets of phloem proteins that function in RNA binding, mRNA translation, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, and macromolecular and vesicle trafficking. Our findings indicate that protein synthesis and turnover, processes that were thought to be absent in enucleate sieve elements, likely occur within the angiosperm phloem translocation stream. In addition, our GO analysis identified a set of phloem proteins that are associated with the GO term "embryonic development ending in seed dormancy"; this finding raises the intriguing question as to whether the phloem may exert some level of control over seed development. The universal significance of the phloem proteome was highlighted by conservation of the phloem proteome in species as diverse as monocots (rice), eudicots (Arabidopsis and pumpkin), and trees (poplar). These results are discussed from the perspective of the role played by the phloem proteome as an integral component of the whole plant communication system.