Molecular cloning and characterization of a gibberellin-inducible, putative alpha-glucosidase gene from barley

A putative alpha-glucosidase clone has been isolated from a cDNA library constructed from mRNA of barley aleurones treated with gibberellin A 3 (GA). The clone is 2752 bp in length and has an uninterrupted open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 877 amino acids. A 680 amino acid region is 43% identical to human lysosomal alpha-glucosidase and other glycosyl hydrolases. In isolated aleurones, the levels of the corresponding mRNA increase strongly after the application of GA, similar to the pattern exhibited by low-pI alpha-amylase mRNA. High levels are also observed in the aleurone and scutellum after germination, while low levels are found in developing seeds. The genome contains a single form of this alpha-glucosidase gene and two additional sequences that may be related genes or pseudogenes.