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Updated: Aug 29, 2026

Preparation of Intact Tissue for Microscopic Analysis of the Endosperm Cell Layer in Developing and Mature Arabidopsis Seeds
Published on: May 16, 2025
Assembly and transport of seed storage proteins
G Galili1, Y Altschuler, H Levanony
1Department of Plant Genetics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Abstract:
Plant seeds store nitrogen by accumulating storage proteins in protein bodies within various compartments of the endomembrane system. The prolamin storage proteins of some cereal species are normally retained and assembled into protein bodies within the ER. Yet, these proteins lack a C-terminal KDEL/HDEL signal, suggesting that their retention is regulated by novel mechanisms. Furthermore, in other cereal species, such protein bodies formed within the ER may be subsequently internalized into vacuoles by a special route that does not utilize the Golgi complex. Thus, studies of the routing of seed storage proteins are revealing novel mechanisms of protein assembly and transport in the endomembrane system.
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