Fluorimetric-Based Method to Detect and Quantify Total S-Nitrosothiols (SNOs) in Plant Samples

Abstract

Accumulating experimental evidence indicates that S-nitrosylation (technically S-nitrosation) events have a central role in plant biology, presumably accounting for much of the widespread influence of nitric oxide (NO) on developmental, metabolic, and stress-related plant responses. Therefore, the accurate detection and quantification of S-nitrosylated proteins and peptides can be particularly useful to determine the relevance of this class of compounds in the ever-increasing number of NO-dependent signaling events described in plant systems. Up to now, the quantification of S-nitrosothiols (SNOs) in plant samples has mostly relied on the Saville reaction and the ozone-based chemiluminescence method, which lacks sensitivity and are very time-consuming, respectively. Taking advantage of the photolytic properties of S-nitrosylated proteins and peptides, the method described in this chapter allows simple, fast, and high-throughput detection of SNOs in plant samples.