Analysis by two-dimensional electrophoresis of the effect of salt stress on the polypeptide patterns in roots of a salt-tolerant and a salt-sensitive cultivar of wheat

The effect of salt stress on the polypeptide levels in roots of two wheat (Triticum durum) cultivars with different sensitivity to NaCl (cv. Ben Bachir, sensitive; cv. Chili, tolerant), was examined by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Blue-stained gels were analyzed by visual inspection to identify changes that resulted when seedlings were grown in the presence of 200 mM NaCl for four days. Although the protein patterns for control and salt-stressed seedlings were qualitatively similar, the net synthesis of a 26 kDa polypeptide was significantly changed. This observation was mainly noticeable in the more tolerant cultivar. With the intention of identifying its function, the NH2-terminal of this polypeptide was sequenced. A 20 amino acid sequence was obtained and compared to sequences available in different databases. Possible roles of this polypeptide, depending on the homologies of its amino acid sequence with known proteins, in salinity tolerance are discussed.