A VIEW OF PLANT DEHYDRINS USING ANTIBODIES SPECIFIC TO THE CARBOXY-TERMINAL PEPTIDE

Dehydrins are characterized by the consensus KIKEKLPG amino acid seque nce found near the carboxy terminus, and usually repeated from one to many times within the protein. A synthetic peptide containing this con sensus sequence was used to produce specific antibodies that recognize dehydrins in a wide range of plants. This range covered two families of monocots, viz. Gramineae (Hordeum vulgare L., Triticum aestivum L., Zea mays L., Oryza sativa L.) and Liliaceae (Allium sativa L.), and f ive families of dicots, Malvaceae (Gossypium hirsutum L.), Solanaceae (Lycopersicon esculentum L.), Brassicaceae (Raphanus sativus L.), Faba ceae (Vigna unguiculata L.), and Cucurbitaceae (Cucumis sativus L.). T wo families of gymnosperms, Pinaceae (Pinus edulis Engelm.) and Ginkgo aceae (Ginkgo biloba L.), were also included. For several plants in wh ich dehydrin cDNA and genomic clones have previously been characterize d, it now appears that the dehydrin family of proteins is larger, and the regulation of dehydrin expression much more complex, than earlier studies have shown.