Wise Michael J, Tunnacliffe Alan
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EH, Cambridge, UK.
Trends Plant Sci. 2004 Jan;9(1):13-7. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2003.10.012.
Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are produced in maturing seeds and anhydrobiotic plants, animals and microorganisms, in which their expression correlates with desiccation tolerance. However, their function has remained obscure for 20 years. We argue that novel computational tools devised for non-globular proteins might now overcome this problem. Predictions arising from bioinformatics fit well with recent data on Group 3 proteins, which potentially form cytoskeletal filaments, and suggest experimentally testable functions for these and other LEA protein groups.
胚胎发育晚期丰富（LEA）蛋白在成熟种子、脱水生物植物、动物和微生物中产生，其表达与耐旱性相关。然而，它们的功能在20年里一直不明。我们认为，为非球形蛋白设计的新型计算工具现在可能会克服这个问题。生物信息学的预测与关于第3组蛋白的最新数据非常吻合，第3组蛋白可能形成细胞骨架丝，并为这些以及其他LEA蛋白组提出了可通过实验验证的功能。
