14
Proteomics in Duckweeds
Yang Fang, Anping Du, Li Tan, Kaize He, Yanling Jin,
Xueping Tian, Yaliang Xu and Hai Zhao
Abstract
Lemnaceae (duckweed) is the smallest flowering plant, consisting of 5 genera and 37
species. It is a potential source for the
production of biomass rich in starch, protein,
flavonoids, and other high-value compounds.
Also, it is deemed as a model for aquatic
plants due to its small genome size. The
biochemical and physiological features of
duckweed have been studied for many years,
while the molecular analysis at omics level
was not studied until recently. To date, the
genomes of three duckweed species, Spirodela polyrhiza, Lemna minor, and Lemna
gibba, were sequenced and annotated. The
expression profiles of duckweed were also
studied at transcriptome level under various
cultivation conditions. However, research on
duckweed proteomics lags behind. The
proteome analysis gives a precise estimate of
gene expression and function. It plays an
important role in mechanism elucidation
of biochemical and physiological features of
duckweed. Here, we review the progress of
proteomic research of duckweed, to improve
our insight into the mechanism of starch
accumulation by duckweed at proteome level.
14.1 Introduction
Duckweeds (the Lemnaceae family) are classified
as the monocot order of Alismatales. There are
five genera of Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna,
Wolffiella, and Wolffia within the Lemnaceae
family. Each genus, except genus Landoltia,
possesses multiple species. Genus Landoltia possesses only one species, naming Landoltia punctata. The natural ability to rapid biomass
production and to thrive on anthropogenic
wastewater makes the aquatic plants huge economic potential and extensive research interesting.
It was reported that duckweed produces
biomass faster than any other flowering plant
(55 tons/ha/year dry weight) (Hillman and Culley
1978; Zhao et al. 2012). Duckweeds also have the
potential to remediate wastewater and accumulate
enormous amounts of starch for bioethanol fermentation (Zhao et al. 2014; Cui et al. 2011).
Especially, duckweed biomass exhibits good
characteristics for bioethanol production due to its
relatively high starch and low lignin percentage.
Y. Fang Á A. Du Á L. Tan Á K. He Á Y. Jin Á X. Tian Á
Y. Xu Á H. Zhao (&)
Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied
Microbiology, Chengdu Institute of Biology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Chengdu 610041, China
e-mail: zhaohai@cib.ac.cn
Y. Fang Á A. Du Á L. Tan Á K. He Á Y. Jin Á X. Tian Á
Y. Xu Á H. Zhao
Environmental Microbiology Key Laboratory
of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, China
X. Tian Á Y. Xu
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100049, China
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
X. H. Cao et al. (eds.), The Duckweed Genomes, Compendium of Plant Genomes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11045-1_14
137
Proteomics in Duckweeds
Yang Fang, Anping Du, Li Tan, Kaize He, Yanling Jin,
Xueping Tian, Yaliang Xu and Hai Zhao
Abstract
Lemnaceae (duckweed) is the smallest flowering plant, consisting of 5 genera and 37
species. It is a potential source for the
production of biomass rich in starch, protein,
flavonoids, and other high-value compounds.
Also, it is deemed as a model for aquatic
plants due to its small genome size. The
biochemical and physiological features of
duckweed have been studied for many years,
while the molecular analysis at omics level
was not studied until recently. To date, the
genomes of three duckweed species, Spirodela polyrhiza, Lemna minor, and Lemna
gibba, were sequenced and annotated. The
expression profiles of duckweed were also
studied at transcriptome level under various
cultivation conditions. However, research on
duckweed proteomics lags behind. The
proteome analysis gives a precise estimate of
gene expression and function. It plays an
important role in mechanism elucidation
of biochemical and physiological features of
duckweed. Here, we review the progress of
proteomic research of duckweed, to improve
our insight into the mechanism of starch
accumulation by duckweed at proteome level.
14.1 Introduction
Duckweeds (the Lemnaceae family) are classified
as the monocot order of Alismatales. There are
five genera of Spirodela, Landoltia, Lemna,
Wolffiella, and Wolffia within the Lemnaceae
family. Each genus, except genus Landoltia,
possesses multiple species. Genus Landoltia possesses only one species, naming Landoltia punctata. The natural ability to rapid biomass
production and to thrive on anthropogenic
wastewater makes the aquatic plants huge economic potential and extensive research interesting.
It was reported that duckweed produces
biomass faster than any other flowering plant
(55 tons/ha/year dry weight) (Hillman and Culley
1978; Zhao et al. 2012). Duckweeds also have the
potential to remediate wastewater and accumulate
enormous amounts of starch for bioethanol fermentation (Zhao et al. 2014; Cui et al. 2011).
Especially, duckweed biomass exhibits good
characteristics for bioethanol production due to its
relatively high starch and low lignin percentage.
Y. Fang Á A. Du Á L. Tan Á K. He Á Y. Jin Á X. Tian Á
Y. Xu Á H. Zhao (&)
Key Laboratory of Environmental and Applied
Microbiology, Chengdu Institute of Biology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Chengdu 610041, China
e-mail: zhaohai@cib.ac.cn
Y. Fang Á A. Du Á L. Tan Á K. He Á Y. Jin Á X. Tian Á
Y. Xu Á H. Zhao
Environmental Microbiology Key Laboratory
of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, China
X. Tian Á Y. Xu
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100049, China
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
X. H. Cao et al. (eds.), The Duckweed Genomes, Compendium of Plant Genomes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11045-1_14
137