PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN BRASSICA NAPUS cv. SURPASS 400 AND VIRULENT OR AVIRULENT ISOLATES OF LEPTOSPHAERIA MACULANS

Brassica napus cultivars resistant to Leptosphaeria maculans have been widely used to control the blackleg disease. The B. napus cv. Surpass 400, with major gene resistance derived from B. rapa ssp. sylvestris, was inoculated either with a virulent or an avirulent isolate of L. maculans, and changes in the cotyledon protein patterns were studied by proteomic analysis. The two dimensional (2D) protein gels indicated a plant response quantitatively and qualitatively different, when the compatible and the incompatible interactions were compared. Many differential spots were found in the B. napus proteome subjected to trypsin digestion and analysed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), together with data available in the literature, allowed the identification of many proteins involved in stress-related and antioxidant responses, CO(2) fixation, nutrient metabolism, etc. The putative role of some of the identified factors in plant susceptibility or resistance to blackleg disease is discussed.