STUDIES ON RICE GLUTELIN .2. GROSS-STRUCTURE OF GLUTELIN FROM RICE ENDOSPERM

In order to obtain information of the gross-structure of glutelin, chemical and physicochemical properties of S-cyanoethyl glutelin were investigated. Glutelin remained at the origin in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, while S-cyanoethyl glutelin migrated in the gel and resolved into two components. The ion-exchange chromatography by carboxymethyl Sephadex C-50 gave further resolution of S-cyanoethyl glutelin into one neutral component corresponding to the anodic component and two basic components corresponding to the cathodic component in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at neutral pH. The amino-terminal residue of the neutral component (Component I) could not be detected by the fluorodinitrobenzene method, while both the basic components (Component II and III) had only glycine as the amino-termini. On the basis of dinitrophenyl-glycine found, the minimum molecular weights of Component II and III were calculated at about 35,000 and 43,000 respectively. The relative concentration of these three components was as follows; Component I: Component II: Component III=8:1:1. These facts obviously indicate that glutelin is a very large molecule composed from these three components polymerized by disulfide linkage, Component I being the major subunit. © 1961 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.