COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF CHROMOSOMAL HMG PROTEINS FROM MONOCOTYLEDONS AND DICOTYLEDONS

Chromosomal high-mobility-group (HMG) proteins occur ubiquitously in e ukaryotes and their common structural and biochemical features indicat e a critical role. In this context, we compared structural and functio nal aspects of HMG proteins from the monocotyledonous plant maize and the dicotyledonous plant Vicia faba. Besides biochemical similarities and immunological differences found between these proteins, the isolat ion and characterization of a cDNA encoding the V. faba homologue of t he maize HMGa protein revealed great similarities between these two pr oteins, including the HMG-box DNA-binding motif and an acidic domain. Therefore, like the maize HMGa protein, the V. faba HMG protein belong s to the vertebrate HMG1 family, which consists of HMG proteins and tr anscription factors of various eukaryotes.