EN
The digestion of the seed storage proteins is a
finely regulated process operated by several proteases
whose action is influenced by the exposure of specific
regions, which became progressively available upon
their action. We focused our study on the initial stages
of germination, where more subtle modifications to
the storage proteins are expected. Small-size peptides
containing cysteine residues and other possible metalbinding
regions are de facto produced but are not released
from the “parental” protein since they remain bound
trough disulphide bridges. The meaning of these findings
is discussed.