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The preliminary characterization of a group of calcium-precipitable protein s from maize germ

Gong Ming, Li Zhongguang, Du Chaokun, Gao Liang

Department of Life Sciences,Yunnan Normal University.Kunming 650092,Yunan

Abstract

This paper reports a group of calcium-precipitable proteins (CaPPs) isolated from maize germ for the first time by a procedure involving reversible precipitation by 3% trichloroacetic acid and 55% (NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4), heat denaturation and Ca~(2+)-induced reversible precipitation. This group of CaPPs showed higher heat stability, and kept undenaturated at 93-94 degree C for 5 min. In addition, they could be reversibly precipitated when the Ca~(2+) concentration of the solution was equal to or higher than 1 mmol/L, bind hydrophobically to phenyl-sepharose 4B in the absence of Ca~(2+) and were dissociated from phenyl-sepharose column in a Ca~(2+)-dependent manner. Electrophoretic analysis showed that this group of CaPPs consists of 7 proteins, the molecular weights of which subunits range from 16 to 103 kD. This group of CaPPs showed some of the properties similar to calsequestrin isolated from muscle cells, suggesting that they might be involved in the regulation of intracellular Ca~(2+) level through its buffering action.

Key words: Calcium;Calcium-precipitable proteins;Calcium-binding proteins;Maize;Germ

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Citing This Article：

Gong Ming, Li Zhongguang, Du Chaokun, Gao Liang. The preliminary characterization of a group of calcium-precipitable protein s from maize germ. Acta Physiol Sin 1997; 49 (3): (in Chinese with English abstract).