Progress toward the tomato fruit cell wall proteome

Eliel Ruiz-May, Jocelyn K. C. Rose

The plant cell wall (CW) compartment, or apoplast, is host to a highly dynamic proteome, comprising large numbers of both enzymatic and structural proteins. This reflects its importance as the interface between adjacent cells and the external environment, the presence of numerous extracellular metabolic and signaling pathways, and the complex nature of wall structural assembly and remodeling during cell growth and differentiation. Tomato fruit ontogeny, with its distinct phases of rapid growth and ripening, provides a valuable experimental model system for CW proteomic studies, in that it involves substantial wall assembly, remodeling, and coordinated disassembly. Moreover, diverse populations of secreted proteins must be deployed to resist microbial infection and protect against abiotic stresses. Tomato fruits also provide substantial amounts of biological material, which is a significant advantage for many types of biochemical analyses, and facilitates the detection of lower abundance proteins. In this review, we describe a variety of orthogonal techniques that have been applied to identify CW localized proteins from tomato fruit, including approaches that: target the proteome of the CW and the overlying cuticle; functional "secretome" screens; lectin affinity chromatography; and computational analyses to predict proteins that enter the secretory pathway. Each has its merits and limitations, but collectively they are providing important insights into CW proteome composition and dynamics, as well as some potentially controversial issues, such as the prevalence of non-canonical protein secretion.