Analysis of meiotic protein complexes from Arabidopsis and Brassica using affinity-based proteomics

The application of proteomics techniques to the study of plant meiosis has the potential to make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the molecular events underpinning meiotic processes. Here we describe the preparation of meiotic protein complexes from Arabidopsis thaliana and its close crop relative, Brassica oleracea, by co-immunoprecipitation for in-solution analysis by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Early results using these techniques have proved encouraging, enabling the identification of candidate AtASY1-interacting proteins in A. thaliana and providing evidence of an in planta interaction between BoASY1 and BoASY3 in B. oleracea. The detection of phospho-modified peptides of BoASY1 and BoASY3 suggests that this approach may be useful for studying meiotic protein modification events.