Proteomic analysis of Colletotrichum kahawae-resistant and susceptible coffee fruit pericarps

Coffee berry disease (CBD) is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum kahawae and is restricted to the African continent, where it generates losses of up to 80 % of coffee production. Weather conditions in certain growing areas at high altitudes in Colombia appear to be very favourable for the development of this disease. Certain genotypes of Coffee arabica are resistant to this pathogen, such as the Timor Hybrid and some Ethiopian accessions. It is important to identify the proteins in these coffee genotypes that are associated with resistance to this fungus. Therefore, we compared the proteomes of two genotypes that are resistant to different isolates of C. kahawae with the proteome of the susceptible coffee genotype Caturra. We optimized the methodology applied for the extraction, cleaning and purification of proteins from the green fruit pericarp at 150 to 170 days after flowering. Through two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis, proteomic map images were obtained for the resistant and susceptible genotypes. Fifty-two protein spots that were significantly different between the resistant and susceptible genotypes were detected. These protein spots were isolated and sequenced via mass spectrometry. The sequence analysis identified 14 proteins in the Timor Hybrid and 14 in CCC1147 that were associated with resistance and pathogen defence.