Large scale comparative wheat phosphoproteome profiling pinpoints temperature-associated molecular signatures

Abstract

Elevated temperatures resulting from climate change adversely affect natural and crop ecosystems, necessitating the development of heat-tolerant crops. We established a framework to precisely identify wheat protein-phosphorylated sites associated with varying temperature sensitivities. We identified specific kinases primarily associated with a specific temperature, but our results also suggest a striking overlap between cold and heat signaling. We furthermore demonstrated that the phosphorylation state of a specific set of proteins creates a unique signature for heat stress tolerance. These findings can potentially aid in the identification of targets for breeding or genome editing to enhance sub/supra optimal temperature tolerance.