Comparative Proteome Analysis in Hot Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) after Space Flight

Hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important crop all over the world. To explore the differentially expressed proteins of hot pepper after space flight, three space-induced mutants (Y1, Y2 and Y3), which obtained new traits after space flight compared with their control lines (W1 and W2), were firstly analyzed using comparative proteome analysis. In this study, leaf morphological characteristics of five kinds of hot pepper variations were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the results showed that obvious changes of cellular structure were observed in space induced mutants compared with their controls. Thirty nine out of the 255 differentially expressed proteins were successfully sequenced. Among these 39 proteins, 31 were homologous with known proteins with different function, and for the others were set as a hypothetical protein. All identified proteins were further classified into six groups including material metabolism, energy metabolism and photosynthesis. In conclusion, these findings will benefit for the research of mutagenic mechanism at the level of proteomics, and provide an effective way for new hot pepper breeding.