2-D DIGE analysis of the budding yeast pH 6-11 proteome in meiosis

Meiosis is the cell division that generates haploid gametes from diploid precursors. To provide insight into the functional proteome of budding yeast during meiosis, a 2-D DIGE kinetic approach was used to study proteins in the pH 6–11 range. Nearly 600 protein spots were visualised and 79 spots exhibited statistically significant changes in abundance as cells progressed through meiosis. Expression changes of up to 41-fold were detected and protein sequence information was obtained for 48 spots. Single protein identifications were obtained for 21 spots including different gel mobility forms of 5 proteins. A large number of post-translational events are suggested for these proteins, including processing, modification and import. The data are incorporated into an online 2-DE map of meiotic proteins in budding yeast, which extends our initial DIGE investigation of proteins in the pH 4–7 range. Together, the analyses provide peptide sequence data for 84 protein spots, including 50 single-protein identifications and gel mobility isoforms of 8 proteins. The largest classes of identified proteins include carbon metabolism, protein catabolism, protein folding, protein synthesis and the oxidative stress response. A number of the corresponding genes are required for yeast meiosis and recent studies have identified similar classes of proteins expressed during mammalian meiosis. This proteomic investigation and the resulting protein reference map make an important contribution towards a more detailed molecular view of yeast meiosis.