Purification and properties of storage proteins (vicilins) from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) seeds which are susceptible or resistant to the bruchid beethe Callosobruchus maculatus

RESUMO

Vicilins (7S storage proteins) from seeds of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) cultivars which are susceptible or resistant to the bruchil veetle C. maculatus were purified by size-exclusion and ion-exchange chromatography. The vicilins were partially characterized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under both denaturing and non-denaturing conditions, by Western blotting and by amino acid analysis. The variant vicilins from C. maculatus-resistant seeds do not differ appreciably from vicilins from susceptible seeds by these criteria except that they are more strongly bound to DEAE-Sepharose, suggesting differences in charge between the various molecules