Differential organ specific protein profiling in chickpea cultivars under water deficit condition

Performance of chickpea is highly affected by water deficit condition. Many proteins related to stress/defence/ detoxification and carbohydrate metabolism, and photosynthesis are crucial for imparting tolerance to water deficit in crops, but the correlation between the expression of induced proteins and the level of stress tolerance has not been established. Proteomic changes is reported in different tissues of two chickpea cultivars differing in drought tolerance capacity-ICC4958 (drought tolerant) and ILC3279 (drought susceptible) - at different developmental stages under field, and at 7 days after germination (DAG) under laboratory conditions. It revealed that average polypeptide expression under stress was up-regulated and downregulated in underground system of ICC4958 and ILC3279, respectively, as compared to control which affected the protein expression in aboveground tissues. More pronounced increase in polypeptide expression in leaves of ICC4958 under stress was observed at 80 DAS, the stage corresponding to initiation of reproductive development, while stress in leaves of ILC3279 resulted in decreased overall protein expression. This was ultimately reflected in enhanced protein expression under water deficit condition in mature seeds of ICC4958 as compared to ILC3279. The study under laboratory condition also revealed that protein expression under water deficit is increased on an average in ICC4958 and reduced in ILC3279.