Changes in Protein Abundance and Activity Induced by Drought During Generative Development of Winter Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.)

Biological Significance: According to our knowledge, this is the first comparative proteomic analysis of drought tolerance performed for the model set of several winter barley doubled haploid (DH) lines. We analysed both the drought impact on the protein pattern of individual winter barley DH lines as well as comparisons between them according to their level of drought tolerance. We have identified 47 proteins discriminating drought-tolerant from drought-sensitive genotypes. The majority was involved in the dark phase of photosynthesis. Another factor of great importance in our opinion seems to be the ability to sustain, during drought stress, relatively high activity of antioxidative enzymes (SOD and CAT) decomposing reactive oxygen species and protecting plant cell from oxidative damages. Our findings also suggest that high tolerance to drought stress in barley is a constitutively-controlled trait regulated by the rate of protein synthesis and their activity level.