Changes in proteins within germinating seeds of transgenic wheat with an antisense construct directed against the thioredoxin.

Abstract

Thioredoxin h is closely related to germination of cereal seeds. The mechanism of transgenic wheat seeds with antisense trxs gene, which is responsible for low germination rate was studied through analyzing the changes in proteins of wheat seeds during germination. The antisense trxs could weaken the metabolism of wheat seeds by decreasing the quantity of proteins involved in metabolism, while chloroform-methanol (CM) protein fraction consisted mostly of some low molecular weight proteins (<20 kD). Compared with wild-type wheat seeds, the folding of glutenin in transgenic wheat ones was affected during the wheat maturating. Big glutenin macropolymers could be formed more easily in transgenic wheat seeds than in wild-type wheat ones. Therefore, the degradation speed of glutenin in transgenic wheat seeds was slower than that in wild-type wheat ones during seed germination. In addition, the degradation of some proteins in transgenic wheat embryos was also delayed during germination.