Sequence of the Gossypium hirsutum D-genome alloallele of Legumin A and its mRNA

Vicilins and legumins are the major globulin storage proteins of angiosperms, being expressed in embryos at very high levels during the reserve accumulation or maturation stage. Along with several other abundant mRNAs, their expression in Gossypium hirsutum (Upland cotton) is specific for this stage and comparative sequence, and functional analysis of their genes should help define a major part of the spatial and temporal control of embryo development. Because significant differences exist in known alloalleles of other cotton genes, the identity here indicates that mRNA represented by cDNA C94 is encoded by LegA-D. The three introns of LegA-D are in the same positions as in legumin genes in other species. As predicted from comparison with Fabaceae Leg genes, primer extension shows that the transcription start is at or around nucleotide 1629, about 26 NT from both the TATA box and translation start.