Proteomics were used to identify the proteins from the eukaryotic unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that can be reduced by thioredoxin. These proteins were retained specifically on a thioredoxin affinity column made of a monocysteinic thioredoxin mutant able to form mixed disulfides with its targets. Of a total of 55 identified targets, 29 had been found previously in higher plants or Synechocystis, but 26 were new targets. Biochemical tests were performed on three of them, showing a thioredoxindependent activation of isocitrate lyase and isopropylmalate dehydrogenase and a thioredoxin-dependent deactivation of catalase that is redox insensitive in Arabidopsis. In addition, we identified a Ran protein, a previously uncharacterized nuclear target in a photosynthetic organism. The metabolic and evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.O ur knowledge on redox regulation of various physiological processes through thiol-disulfide interchange with proteins of the thioredoxin (TRX) superfamily is rapidly progressing as genome-wide approaches and functional genomics studies are expanding. In the plant biology domain, thioredoxin-dependent regulation has been first discovered for chloroplastic enzymes involved in carbon assimilation (1). The completion of the sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome revealed that TRXs constituted a multigene family and led to the assumption that numerous TRX targets were still to be discovered (2-4). Thus, proteomic approaches aimed at identifying the largest possible number of TRX targets have been developed. The first attempts took advantage of the reaction mechanism of TRXs with their targets, in which a transient heterodisulfide forms between the reduced TRX and the oxidized protein, followed by the release of the reduced target due to the attack of the mixed disulfide by the second cysteine of TRX. Model studies showed that when this second cysteine was mutated, the heterodisulfide was stabilized (5, 6). This property was applied in vivo by transforming a TRX-null mutant yeast with a monocysteinic TRX and allowed isolating a peroxiredoxin (PRX) (7). Subsequently, monocysteinic TRX mutants were used in affinity chromatography to trap interacting proteins (8-11). Native TRX affinity columns also allowed retaining some targets by electrostatic interaction (12). Another technique was also developed that consists of a reduction of a crude soluble protein extract with reduced TRX followed by a separation of the proteins on a 2D gel after derivatization of the newly appeared thiols either with a fluorescent (13) or with a radioactive (14) reagent. In one case, both techniques have been applied in parallel (15), yielding similar results.Most of the disulfide proteomics have been led with higher plants: spinach (8, 10, 12), Arabidopsis (11, 14), or cereal grains (12). A single study was led with cyanobacteria and revealed targets mostly different from those of higher plants (16). The unicellular eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii possesses a TRX syste...

Proteomics was used to search for putative thioredoxin (TRX) targets in leaves of the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. About forty different proteins have been found to be reduced by TRX, after TRX itself has been specifically reduced by its NADPH-dependent reductase. Twenty-one of the identified proteins were already known or recently proposed to be TRX-dependent and nineteen of the proteins were new potential targets. The identified proteins are involved in a wide variety of processes, including the Calvin cycle, metabolism, photosynthesis, folding, defense against oxidative stress and amino acid synthesis. Two proteins from the glycine cleavage complex were also identified as putative TRX targets, and a new role can be postulated in leaves for TRX in defense against herbivores and/or pathogens.

Protein glutathionylation is a redox post-translational modification occurring under oxidative stress conditions and playing a major role in cell regulation and signaling. This modification has been mainly studied in nonphotosynthetic organisms, whereas much less is known in photosynthetic organisms despite their important exposure to oxidative stress caused by changes in environmental conditions. We report a large scale proteomic analysis using biotinylated glutathione and streptavidin affinity chromatography that allowed identification of 225 glutathionylated proteins in the eukaryotic unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Moreover, 56 sites of glutathionylation were also identified after peptide affinity purification and tandem mass spectrometry. The targets identified belong to a wide range of biological processes and pathways, among which the Calvin-Benson cycle appears to be a major target. The glutathionylation of four enzymes of this cycle, phosphoribulokinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, ribose-5-phosphate isomerase, and phosphoglycerate kinase was confirmed by Western blot and activity measurements. The results suggest that glutathionylation could constitute a major mechanism of regulation of the Calvin-Benson cycle under oxidative stress conditions. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 11: 10.1074/mcp.M111.014142, 1-15, 2012.Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) 1 play a pivotal role in cellular signaling (1). Recently, redox PTMs have emerged as important mechanisms of signaling and regulation in all organisms. Our increasing understanding of the molecular mechanism of cell signaling has revealed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) act as signaling molecules to transfer extracellular or intracellular information and elicit specific responses. ROS and RNS have generally been considered to be toxic molecules that have to be continuously scavenged and efficiently detoxified. Plant cells exhibit a remarkable ability to cope with high rates of ROS/RNS production as a result of a complex scavenging system that includes either antioxidant molecules or enzymes (2). In photosynthetic organisms, ROS and RNS are continuously produced during normal aerobic metabolism but are also produced transiently in response to various types of endogenous or exogenous signals, such as biotic and abiotic stresses. This production activates specific signaling pathways, resulting in transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational responses that will, in fine, allow adaptation to new environmental conditions. These past decades, redox modifications have emerged as central mechanisms in these processes, at the interface between ROS/RNS and the adaptative responses to environmental changes. ROS/RNS signaling operates mainly through a set of PTMs of thiol residues on proteins (3). Indeed, cysteine residues can undergo different states of oxidation such as sulfenic, sulfinic, and sulfonic acids in addition to protein disulfide bridges (intra-or intermolec...