An embryo-specific protein of barley (Hordeum vulgare)

Extraction and characterization of starch granule-associated proteins from rice that affect in vitro starch digestibility

Starch granule-associated proteins (SGAPs) including granule-surface proteins and granule-channel proteins in waxy, low- and high-amylose rice starch were extracted and identified. The in vitro digestibility of starch was investigated before and after the extraction of granule-channel proteins or total SGAPs. The results showed that 10 types of major differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) including 14-3-3-like protein and ribosomal protein were found among starches. In addition, the lack of only granule-channel proteins or total SGAPs led to significant and different changes in the levels of rapidly digestible starch, slowly digestible starch and resistant starch. Possible mechanisms are related to the accessibility of amylase into starch granules and structural properties of SGAPs. This study provides more information about DEPs in rice starch with different amylose content and supports further study on the relationship between SGAPs and in vitro starch digestibility.

The pattern of plant annexin gene expression

Peptide sequence data derived from a plant annexin, P34 [Smallwood, Keen & Bowles (1990) Biochem. J. 270, 157-161] was used to design amplimers for PCR. A unique fragment of 95 bp, amplified from tomato (Lycopersicon esculertum) genomic DNA, was used in Northern analyses and demonstrated a differential pattern of expression in vegetative tissues of tomato, potato (Solanum tuberosum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). The tissue-specific abundance of the annexin transcript was found to correlate closely with abundance of annexin protein as revealed by their partial purification and analysis with antisera specific for annexins isolated from tomato suspension-culture cells.