Poster: Lipids & Related Molecules

Abs # 855: Occurrence, structure, and genes of oleosins

Presenter:	Kim, Hyun Uk , hyunuk@citrus.ucr.edu
Authors	Kim, Hyun Uk  (A)   Huang, Anthony H.C. (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA92521

Oleosins are abundant, amphipathic proteins present on the surface of oil bodies in seeds, tapetum, and other tissues. An oleosin molecule has a stretch of 72 un-interrupted hydrophobic residues that could form a hairpin penetrating into the lipid matrix of an oil body. We will report and assess the recent advances in our understanding of the structure and function of oleosins, as well as their genes and gene expression reported by different laboratories, including ours. The information will include: (1) the reported absence of oleosins on the surface of oil bodies in tropical seeds, (2) the presence of oleosins on the surface of oil bodies in pollen, (3) the secondary structure of the hydrophobic hairpin region, (4) the subcellular targeting signals in the oleosin, (5) other proteins reported to be present on the oil bodies, (6) oleosin gene organization in Arabidopsis and Brassica, and (7) the transfer of oleosins from the tapetum cells to the pollen coat.