Dissecting stylar responses to self-pollination in wild tomato self-compatible and self-incompatible species using comparative proteomics.

Self-incompatibility (SI), a phenomenon that is widespread among flowering plants (angiosperms), promotes outbreeding, resulting in increased genetic diversity and species survival. SI is also important in establishing intra- or interspecies reproductive barriers, such as those that are evident in the tomato clade, Solanum section Lycopersicon, where they limit the use of wild species inbreeding programs to improve cultivated tomato. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying SI are poorly understood in the tomato clade. In this study, an SI (Solanum chilense, LA0130) and a self-compatible (SC, Solanum pimpinellifolium, LA1585) tomato species were chosen to dissect the mechanism of SI formation using a comparative proteomics approach. A total of 635 and 627 protein spots were detected in two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) maps of proteins from the SI and SC species, respectively. In the SC species, 22 differently expressed proteins (DEPs) were detected in SCP versus SCUP (self-pollination versus non-pollination in SC species). Of these, 3 and 18 showed an up-or down-regulated expression in the SCP protein sample, respectively, while only one DEP (MSRA, Solyc03g111720) was exclusively expressed in the SCP sample. In the SI species, 14 DEPs were found between SIP/SIUP, and 5 of these showed higher expression in SIP, whereas two DEPs (MLP-like protein 423-like, gene ID, 460386008 and (ATP synthase subunit alpha, gene ID, Solyc00g042130) were exclusively expressed in SIP or SIUP, respectively. Finally, two S-RNases (gene IDs, 313247946 and 157377662) were exclusively expressed in the SI species. Sequence homology analysis and a gene ontology tool were used to assign the DEPs to the 'metabolism', 'energy', 'cytoskeleton dynamics', 'protein degradation', 'signal transduction', 'defence/stress responses', 'self-incompatibility' and 'unknown' protein categories. We discuss the putative functions of the DEPs in different biological processes and how these might be associated with the regulation of SI formation in the tomato clade.