Project description:Many limitation factors, such as seed pre-harvest sprouting, bitter saponin e.c., greatly restricts quinoa production and popularity. To solves these problems, the underlying mechanism of seed maturation in quinoa was required. In this study, morphological observation, TMT proteomics and parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) were conducted to investigate the variation of quinoa seed during seed maturation
Project description:<p>Quinoa (<em>Chenopodium quinoa</em> Willd.) is an herbaceous annual crop of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). It is increasingly cultivated for its nutritious grains, which are rich in protein and essential amino acids, lipids, and minerals. Quinoa exhibits a high tolerance towards various abiotic stresses including drought and salinity, which supports its agricultural cultivation under climate change conditions. The use of quinoa grains is compromised by anti-nutritional saponins, a terpenoid class of secondary metabolites deposited in the seed coat; their removal before consumption requires extensive washing, an economically and environmentally unfavorable process; or their accumulation can be reduced through breeding. In this study, we analyzed the seed metabolomes, including amino acids, fatty acids, and saponins, from 471 quinoa cultivars, including two related species, by liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry. Additionally, we determined a large number of agronomic traits including biomass, flowering time, and seed yield. The results revealed considerable diversity between genotypes and provide a knowledge base for future breeding or genome editing of quinoa.</p>
Project description:A shotgun proteomics approach was used to characterize the quinoa seed proteome. To obtain comprehensive proteomic data from quinoa seeds three different precipitation procedures were employed: MeOH/CHCl3/ddH2O, acetone either alone or with trichloroacetic acid; the isolated proteins were then in-solution digested and the resulting peptides analyzed bynano liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. However, since quinoa is a non model plant species, only a few protein sequences are included in the most widely known protein sequence databases. To improve the data reliability a UniProt subdatabase, containing only proteins of Caryophillales order, was used.
