Biochemical and immunological characterization of rice albumin

Rice albumin from Oryza sativa (Var. Basmati 370) accounts for about 5% of the total seed proteins. A major fraction of rice albumin has been found to be a glycoprotein which is a monomer of 60 kd having iso-electric point 6.54. When rice albumin is digested with trypsin, it shows the presence of 24 peptides as against 28 peptides which were estimated from its amino acid composition. This indicates the presence of a few peptides which resemble each other in their charge and Rf values. Antibodies against Con A purified rice albumin were affinity purified and were used to quantitate the rice albumin levels during post-anthesis by RIA and ELISA. The latter experiments reveal that maximum albumin is present between 18 and 20 days post-anthesis.