Alterations in phosphoproteome under salt stress in Thellungiella roots

High salinity stress is a major environmental factor that limits plant’s distribution and productivity. An Arabidopsis-related halophyte, Thellungiella halophila, is an emerging model system used for plant abiotic stress tolerance research. Previous studies have suggested that protein phosphorylation has a crucial role in the high salinity response in plants. However, the phosphoproteome differential expression under high salinity stress in halophytes has not been well studied. In this report, phosphoproteome differential expression was analyzed under high salinity stress in Thellungiella roots. Twenty-six putative phosphoproteins were found to have changed expression pattern at the post-translational level. Twenty of these were identified by mass spectrometric analysis, including 18 upregulated and two downregulated phosphoproteins. These proteins were involved in a variety of cellular processes, such as signal transduction, ROS detoxification, energy pathway, protein synthesis and protein folding. While most of these salt-responsive putative phosphoproteins are known salt-stress-related proteins, some of them have not been previously reported. Our results provide not only new insights into salt stress responses in Thellungiella but also a good foundation for further investigation of these high salinity-regulated phosphoproteins.