1744-7909/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=a2cf6561cba283f0a3c99046b5fa8c3f6771ccf3)
1744-7909/asset/olbannerright.gif?v=1&s=7a51c6a37b59c3ea90a4ce94224879ab0a17750d)
Characters of Cysteine Endopeptidases in Wheat Endosperm during Seed Germination and Subsequent Seedling Growth
Article first published online: 29 DEC 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2008.00778.x
© 2009 Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Additional Information
How to Cite
Shi, C. and Xu, L.-L. (2009), Characters of Cysteine Endopeptidases in Wheat Endosperm during Seed Germination and Subsequent Seedling Growth. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 51: 52–57. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7909.2008.00778.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 29 DEC 2008
- Article first published online: 29 DEC 2008
- Received 16 Oct. 2007 Accepted 19 Jun. 2008
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- cysteine endopeptidase;
- seed germination;
- seedling development;
- storage protein;
- wheat endosperm
Abstract
The endopeptidases (EPs) in wheat endosperm during seed germination and subsequent seedling growth were characterized by gradient-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with gelatin copolymerized into the gel. Four cysteine EPs (EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4) were detected in wheat endosperm during the 7 d growth after seed imbibition. The results also showed that the activities of all of these EPs increased continuously, and EP2 first appeared and had the highest proteolytic activity among the four EPs in this experimental process. The optimum pH and temperature of all four EPs were 4.0 and 40.0 °C. All EPs were completely inhibited by 25 μmol/L E-64 and had no good thermal stabilities, especially EP1. In addition, these EPs had different substrate specificities to albumins, globulins, gliadins and glutenins; the main storage proteins of mature wheat endosperm. Among them, EP2 had the highest proteolytic activities on globulins, gliadins and glutenins, and might be the most important and specific EP with potential to be tightly correlated with seedling development.