Physiological and proteomic changes in soft wheat seeds during accelerated aging

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the most important crops in the world, is a staple food used for making flour, noodles, alcoholic beverages, biofuel and a variety of other products. In wheat, kernel texture and biochemical composition vary with different hardnesses. Previous study of our research group indicated that physiological properties changes including germination ratio, and physiological enzymatic activities in wheat with different hardnesses were different. A comparative proteomic analysis of soft and hard wheat embryos by our research group identified more proteins associated with anti-resistance in soft wheat than that in hard wheat. Additionally, quantitative proteomic analysis of medium-hard wheat ‘Aikang58’ seeds showed that 162 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) participated in metabolism, energy supply, and defense/stress responses were identified during artificial ageing were identified in our previous research. However, the dynamic physiological and quantitative proteomic changes in soft wheat seeds during accelerated aging remain unclear, thus need to be elucidated. In this work, we conducted the first Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based dynamic quantitative proteomic analysis of elite Chinese soft wheat cultivar ‘Yangmai 15’ seeds during artificial ageing. The uncovered differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) with different functions might provide new insights into the comprehensive understanding of deterioration in soft wheat seeds.