Safeners coordinately induce the expression of multiple proteins and MRP transcripts involved in herbicide metabolism and detoxification in Triticum tauschii seedling tissues.

Chemicals called safeners protect cereal crops from herbicide toxicity. Proteomic methods (2-D PAGE and LC-MS/MS) were utilized to identify safener- and/or herbicide-regulated proteins in three tissues (root, leaf, and coleoptile) of Triticum tauschii seedlings to better understand a safener's mechanism of action. Growth experiments showed that the safener cloquintocet-mexyl protected seedlings from injury by the herbicide dimethenamid. In total, 29 safener-induced and 10 herbicide-regulated proteins were identified by LC-MS/MS. These proteins were classified into two major categories based on their expression patterns, and were further classified into several functional groups. Surprisingly, mutually exclusive sets of proteins were identified following herbicide or safener treatment, suggesting that different signaling pathways may be recruited. Safener-responsive proteins, mostly involved in xenobiotic detoxification, also included several new proteins that had not been previously identified as safener-responsive, whereas herbicide-regulated proteins belonged to several classes involved in general stress responses. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) transcripts were highly induced by safeners and two MRP genes were differentially expressed. Our results indicate that safeners protect T. tauschii seedlings from herbicide toxicity by coordinately inducing proteins involved in an entire herbicide detoxification pathway mainly in the coleoptile and root, thereby protecting new leaves from herbicide injury.