Expression of unprocessed glutelin precursor alters polymerization without affecting trafficking and accumulation
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Experimental Approaches for Biochemical Analysis of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein and Its Disease-associated Variants
Published on: November 28, 2025
Yuhya Wakasa1, Lijun Yang, Sakiko Hirose
1Transgenic Crop Research and Development Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Kannondai 3-1-3, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604, Japan.
Abstract:
Rice glutelin is synthesized as a precursor in the endosperm endoplasmic reticulum and then deposited within the protein storage vacuole protein body-II (PB-II) as an aggregate, with a high degree of polymerized higher-order structure comprising mature acidic and basic subunits after post-translation processing cleavage. In order to investigate the functional role of this processing and its effect on folding assembly, wild-type GluA2 and its mutant cDNA (mGluA2), in which the conserved processing site (Asn-Gly) at the junction between the acidic and basic chains was replaced with Ala-Ala, were expressed under the control of the endosperm-specific GluB1 promoter in the mutant rice a123 line lacking glutelin GluA1, GluA2, and GluB4. The mGluA2 precursor was synthesized and stably targeted to PB-II without processing in the transgenic rice seeds like the wild-type GluA2. Notably, the saline-soluble mGluA2 precursor assembled with the other type of processed glutelin GluB as a trimer in PB-II, although such hetero-assembly with GluB was not detected in the transformant containing the processed GluA. Furthermore, the mGluA2 precursor in the glutelin fraction was deposited in PB-II by forming a quite different complex from the processed mature GluA2 products. These results indicate that post-translational processing of glutelin is not necessary for trafficking and stable accumulation in PB-II, but is required for the formation of the higher-order structure required for stacking in PB-II.
More Related Videos
10:17Presynapse Formation Assay Using Presynapse Organizer Beads and “Neuron Ball” Culture
Published on: August 2, 2019
07:54Purification of Tubulin with Controlled Posttranslational Modifications and Isotypes from Limited Sources by Polymerization-Depolymerization Cycles
Published on: November 5, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Protein Folding Quality Check in the RER
Oligosaccharide Assembly
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Post-translational Translocation of Proteins to the RER
Targeting proteins to the ER
Hsp40 and Hsp70 chaperone molecules bind the translated proteins in the cytosol to prevent their folding. The chaperone binding helps to keep the signal...
Export of Misfolded Proteins out of the ER
The Unfolded Protein Response
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...