proteomics
Proteomics is the large-scale study of the complete set of proteins produced by an organism, encompassing their composition, structure, and activity. In plant science, proteomics provides a powerful lens for understanding how plants respond to environmental stresses, developmental cues, and pathogens at the molecular level. By revealing which proteins are expressed and how they function, proteomics helps researchers uncover the mechanisms underlying key plant traits such as drought tolerance, nutrient uptake, and disease resistance.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-04-01
Plants respond to threats and environmental changes within fractions of a second using protein 'on/off switches' called phosphorylation. This review highlights new tools — particularly advanced mass spectrometry — that can finally capture these lightning-fast signals in real time.
Current scientific understanding of plant signaling is largely limited to minute- and hour-long timescales, leaving sub-second initial signaling events almost entirely unexplored.
Quantitative mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics is identified as a key emerging tool to capture the rapid, dynamic early steps of plant stress signaling.
Combining phosphoproteomics with bioinformatics and other proteomics approaches offers a data-driven path to untangle the complexity of plant signaling networks.