Breeding drought-resistant crops: GxE interactions, proteomics and pQTLS

Proteins are involved in shaping the plant phenotype in response to environmental cues. However, in order to make use of proteomic studies in modern breeding programmes, dissection of genotypexenvironment (GxE) effects on the relative abundance of different proteins is essential. This can be achieved through pQTL mapping but a prerequisite has been laborious analysis of alterations in the relative abundance of protein spots in very large 2-DE gel sets. New research by Rodziewicz et al. (2019) showing a streamlined process is invaluable and should allow an accelerated application of proteomic data leading to improved drought-resistant varieties.