PURIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF STORAGE PROTEINS (VICILINS) FROM COWPEA (VIGNA-UNGUICULATA) SEEDS WHICH ARE SUSCEPTIBLE OR RESISTANT TO THE BRUCHID BEETLE CALLOSOBRUCHUS-MACULATUS

Vicilins (7S storage proteins) from seeds of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata ) cultivars which are susceptible or resistant to the bruchid beetle C . maculatus were purified by size-exclusion and ion-exchange chromatog raphy. The vicilins were partially characterized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under both denaturing and nondenaturing conditions, b y Western blotting and by amino acid analysis. The variant vicilins fr om C, maculatus-resistant seeds do not differ appreciably from vicilin s from susceptible seeds by these criteria except that they are more s trongly bound to DEAE-Sepharose, suggesting differences in charge betw een the various molecules.