Redox proteomics for the assessment of redox-related posttranslational regulation in plants

• The plant proteome is subjected to multiple redox-related posttranslational modifications, some of which are reversible.
• Redox regulation is a central feature in the control of chloroplast metabolism.
• The protein components involved in redox regulation of chloroplasts are meanwhile well established.
• Redox proteomics has advanced and is providing a toolbox of tailor-made approaches to study processes in detail.
• The detailed physiological context of candidates identified by proteomic studies has to be established in follow-up studies.

The methodological developments of in vivo and in vitro protein labeling and subsequent detection enable sensitive and specific detection of redox modifications. Such methods are presently applied to diverse cells and tissues, subproteomes and developmental as well as environmental conditions. The chloroplast proteome is particularly suitable for such kind of studies, because redox regulation of chloroplast proteins is well established, many plastid proteins are abundant, redox network components have been inventoried in great depth, and functional consequences explored. Thus the repertoire of redox-related posttranslational modifications on the one hand side and their abundance on the other pose a challenge for the near future to understand their contribution to physiological regulation. The various posttranslational redox modifications are introduced, followed by a description of the available proteomics methods. The significance of the redox-related posttranslational modification is exemplarily worked out using established examples from photosynthesis. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Proteomics — a bridge between fundamental processes and crop production, edited by Dr. Hans-Peter Mock.