SEED TRAIT PREDICTION BY ACTIVITY-BASED PROTEIN PROFILING

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of predicting a plant seed trait, such as germination rate, vigour, aging and priming, by determining the presence of a target protein, i.e. diagnostic marker, in its active state in a protein sample derived from a plant seed or plant seed lot. Thereby, the quality of a plant seed or a plant seed lot can be predicted and/or diagnosed and seeds may be distinguished on basis of their characteristics and with respect to the traits described herein. Inter alia, seeds and seed lots having high germination quality may be distinguished from seeds and seed lots having low germination quality. In particular, the method comprises contacting the protein sample or the plant seed or plant seed lot with a chemical probe comprising a warhead being able to attach to an amino acid residue in or nearby an active site of the target protein under conditions allowing the formation of a conjugate of the target protein and the chemical probe, wherein the chemical probe further comprises a reporter tag which is used to detect the conjugate, and wherein detection of the conjugate indicates the presence of the target protein in the protein sample and is used to predict or diagnose the plant seed trait. The present invention further relates to the use of such chemical probes for the prediction of plant seed traits.