. These results might help to unravel the intricate interactions among plant root systems, root exudates, and rhizospheric microflora. Differentially expressed plant proteins under ratooning practice Our metaproteomic analysis showed that the 6 proteins (spot 12, succinate dehydrogenase; spot 13, phosphofructokinase; spots 16 and 35, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and spot 32, fumarate hydratase 1) linked to the glycolysis (EMP) / tricarboxylic acid

(TCA) cycle and one protein selleck chemical (spot 25, betaine aldehyde hydrogenase) involved in glycine, Cell Cycle inhibitor serine and threonine metabolism were highly expressed in the ratoon cane soil, as compared to the plant cane and control soils (Table 4). These proteins are probably associated with the release of root exudates from plants. Many root exudates (such as malate, fumarate, oxalate, malonate, citrate, aconitate, arginine, histidine and lysine) are mostly the intermediates of the TCA cycle or amino acid metabolism. Singh and Mukerji [34] suggested that these root exudates were the determinants of rhizospheric microbial biodiversity. Root exudates act as chemo-attractants that function to attract bacteria towards roots [35]. The qualitative and quantitative composition of root exudates is affected by various environmental factors (such as pH, soil type, oxygen status, nutrient availability, etc.) and the presence of microorganisms.

The up-regulation of these proteins involved in the carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism might be explained by a change in the composition of root exudates possibly resulting from soil disturbances CX-6258 which might be caused by ratooning. In this study, three proteins linked to plant stress/defense response (including spot 4, catalase; spot 23, PrMC3 and spot 27, heat shock 70

kDa protein) showed higher expression levels in the ratoon cane soil than in the plant cane and control soils (Table 4). Catalase and heat shock protein 70 (Hsp 70) have been proven to be critical Adenosine triphosphate for various abiotic and biotic stress responses [36–38]. The above mentioned proteins are rapidly up-regulated in pathogen infection and play a central role in defense against pathogens [39, 40]. PrMC3 is a member of a family of proteins that all contain a Ser-hydrolase motif (GxSxG) and is similar to the tobacco protein hsr203J [41]. Hsr203J is rapidly and specifically expressed in the hypersensitive response to various pathogens in tobacco [42]. Furthermore, Zhou et al. [43] found that the gene expression of PrMC3 was up-regulated in the plant leaves infected by the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzicola. Therefore, the up-regulation of catalase, PrMC3 and Hsp70 might imply that ratoon cane was confronted with environmental stress in the soil, which possibly results from the presence of certain pathogens (pathogenic microbes or root-infecting nematodes) [44, 45] or other abiotic stresses in the ratooning system.