Cereal Chem 52:771 - 778.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Subcellular Distribution and Enzyme Digestibility of Endosperm Proteins of Amylomaize and Normal Corn.

M. J. Wolf and U. Khoo. Copyright 1975 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Endosperm storage protein of amylomaize contains protein bodies averaging about 1.16 micrometers in diameter as compared with an average of 1.50 micrometers for normal dent corn. Both alcohol-soluble and alcohol-insoluble proteins are dispersed throughout the protein bodies of amylomaize. In normal corn, alcohol-insoluble protein is condensed in the central part of the protein body and zein in the peripheral. The protein bodies of amylomaize appear to contain a larger proportion of alcohol-insoluble protein than those of normal dent corn. In addition to protein bodies, numerous smaller structures, about 0.2 micrometer in diameter, are embedded in the matrix protein of both amylomaize and normal corn. In both types of corn, Pronase digests both matrix and zein body proteins in thin sections where contents of the bodies are exposed to the enzyme solution. Under these conditions the matrix proteins are more rapidly digested than the proteins of the bodies.