PCR CLONING AND EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF CDNAS ENCODING CYSTEINE PROTEINASES FROM GERMINATING-SEEDS OF VICIA-SATIVA L

cDNA clones encoding cysteine proteinases from cotyledons of germinate d seeds of Vicia sativa L. have been obtained by means of PCR. Degener ate oligonucleotide primers were designed according to conserved amino acid regions of known cysteine proteinases. The deduced amino acid se quences of the cDNA clones encoding VSCYSPR1 and VSCYSPR2 display stro ng homology to cysteine proteinases of the so called papain superfamil y. Northern analyses revealed developmentally regulated expression of both the mRNAs in germinating seeds. The transcripts were shown to be products of two distinct single genes, each exhibiting structural poly morphisms as exposed in few nucleotide substitutions.