Project description:Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is an economically important shrub or small tree indigenous to Asia and Europe. The most well-recognized medicinal and nutraceutical products derive from the berry oil, which is rich in essential fatty acids, monounsaturated palmitoleic acid (16:1 ω-7), linoleic (18:2 ω-6) and alpha-linolenic (18:3 ω-3) acids. In this study, tandem mass tags (TMT) MS/MS were used to investigate protein profiles of lipid metabolism in sea buckthorn berries harvested at 30, 50 and 70 days after flowering. A total of 8626 proteins were detected and 6170 of these were quantified. Further analyses of the proteins and their pathways revealed initiation of fatty acid accumulation throughout the whole berry development. Activity of most of key enzymes, which are related to biosynthesis pathways of triacylglycerol and fatty acids, had peaked at 50 days; but triacylglycerol synthesis through the PDAT (phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferase) catalytic pathway of occurred mostly at the early stage of berry development. Protein expression patterns related to lipid accumulation were also verified at the transcript level using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The proteome profiles determined here will improve our understanding of the process of lipid accumulation and the dynamic changes in metabolic pathways during sea buckthorn berry development.
