PROSITE: PDOC00516 (documentation)

* Plant lipid transfer proteins signature *

Plant cells contain proteins, called lipid transfer  proteins  (LTP) [1,2,3],
which are able to facilitate  the transfer of  phospholipids  and other

lipids across membranes. These proteins, whose subcellular location is not

yet known, could play  a  major   role  in  membrane biogenesis by conveying phospholipids such as  waxes or cutin from their site of biosynthesis to membranes

unable to form these lipids.

　

Plant LTP's are  proteins  of  about 9 Kd (90 amino acids) which contain eight
conserved  cysteine residues  all  involved  in disulfide bridges, as shown in
the following schematic representation.

                     +-----------------------+
                     |     +------+           |
                     |     |      |            |     ****************
                    xCxxxxCxxxxxxCCxxxxxxxxCxCxxxxxxxxxxxCxxxxxxCxx
                                  |         |              |       |
                                  +--------|-------------+       |
                                           +--------------------+

'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
'*': position of the pattern.

Consensus pattern:

　

           [LIVM]-[PA]-x(2)-C-x-[LIVM]-x-[LIVM]-x-[LIVMFY]-x-[LIVM]-
           [ST]-x(3)-[DN]-C-x(2)-[LIVM]
           [The two C's are involved in disulfide bonds]

-Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL,  except
  for 5 sequences.
-Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.

-Note: some  of  these  proteins  were originally thought to be alpha-amylase/
  protease inhibitors (PAPI).

-Last update: November 1997 / Pattern and text revised.