| Type: | Domain | Name: | Seed maturation protein |
| Description: | Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins accumulate to high levels during the last stage of seed formation (when a natural desiccation of the seed tissues takes place) and during periods of water deficit in vegetative organs. LEA proteins have been grouped into at least six families on the basis of sequence similarity. Although significant similarity has not been detected between the members of the different classes, a unifying and outstanding feature of these proteins is their high hydrophilicity and high percentage of glycines. Amino acid sequence analysis allows one to predict that these proteins exist primarily as random coils. This property has been confirmed in few cases with purified proteins and is supported by the fact that proteins of this type do not coagulate upon heating. LEA protein families have been identified in a wide range of different plant species to the extent that they can be considered ubiquitous in plants. Moreover, it has been shown that members of at least one of the LEA protein families, the so-called dehydrins, are present in a range of photosynthetic organisms, including lower plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. In addition similar proteins, the hydrophilins are induced in a variety of different taxons, of non-photosynthetic organsims, in response to osmotic stress. All of these proteins have a high hydrophilicity index, generally greater than 1.0 [].This conserved region identifies a set of plant seed maturation proteins described as LEA D34. | Short Name: | SMP |
