Differential gene expression for suicide-substrate serine proteinase inhibitors (serpins) in vegetative and grain tissues of barley
- Roberts, Thomas H
- Marttila, Salla
- Rasmussen, Soren K
- Hejgaard, Jorn
DOIAbstract
Proteins of the serpin superfamily (~43 kDa) from mature cereal grains are in vitro suicide-substrate inhibitors of specific mammalian serine proteinases of the chymotrypsin family. However, unlike the 'standard-mechanism' serine proteinase inhibitors (<25 kDa), the biological functions of plant serpins are unknown. Expression studies of genes encoding members of three subfamilies of serpins (BSZx, BSZ4 and BSZ7) in developing grain and vegetative tissues of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) showed that transcripts encoding BSZx, which inhibits distinct proteinases at overlapping reactive centres in vitro, were ubiquitous at low levels, but the protein could not be detected. EST analysis showed that expression of genes for serpins with BSZx-type ...
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