Gene atlas of iron-containing proteins (ironOME) in Arabidopsis thaliana
Résumé
Iron (Fe) is an essential element for all organisms, including plants, because of its presence in numerous proteins involved in vital cellular processes1. We have recently performed an exhaustive, manually curated, inventory of genes encoding Fe-containing proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana to obtain a comprehensive view of genes and biological processes that depends directly on Fe acquisition in plants. Based on genome annotations, sequence analysis as well as on a detailed literature survey, we identified 1068 genes encoding potential Fe-binding proteins, which include 204 iron-sulfur (Fe-S) proteins, 446 haem proteins and 330 non-Fe-S/non-haem Fe proteins. Additionally, 88 other genes encoding proteins for which Fe binding is uncertain were indexed as ‘unclear’ in a fourth category. In total, this represents approximately 4% of the Arabidopsis genes. Furthermore, we have analyzed the predicted or demonstrated subcellular localization for all corresponding proteins, and we assessed the phylostratigraphic ranking of the gene set coding for all three Fe-containing protein categories to investigate the evolutionary age. Finally, we analyzed the spatiotemporal gene expression profile of this gene set during plant development. In order to keep the Arabidopsis Fe-containing protein atlas as ‘up to date’ as possible, this resource is made available to – and updatable by – the scientific community at
https://conf.arabidopsis.org/display/COM/Atlas+of+Fe+containing+proteins.
We believe that this resource represents a valuable tool for a large scientific community interested in many aspects of Fe metabolism, including Fe assimilation/acquisition and its utilization in plants and beyond. In particular, it may help selecting relevant targets for future breeding or biotechnological approaches aiming at Fe biofortification in plants.