DNA sequence of the gene encoding the Zc1 protein from Zea mays W64 A.

The Zein-2 component named Zc 1 corresponds to a storage protein of an apparent M.W. of 16 kDa present in maize endosperm (1). A comparison of amino acid sequences between this protein and Zc2 (glutelin-2) shows that Zcl corresponds to a truncated Zc2 protein (2). In our laboratory we have isolated and sequenced a genomic clone (pZ3) of 3864 nucleotides coding for Zcl protein. This genomic fragment shows a length of 1241 bp for the 5' region, 551 bp for the coding region that appears underlined and 1062 bp for the 3' region. The putative TATAbox also appears underlined. The comparison with the sequence of the corresponding cDNA clone, shows the lack of introns in this gene. Furthermore, this is the first case for maize storage EMBL accession no. X53515