Cloning and sequencing of a cDNA encoding the major storage proteins of Theobroma cacao : Identification of the proteins as members of the vicilin class of storage proteins.

The major storage proteins, polypeptides of 31 and 47 kilodaltons (kDa), from the seeds of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.), have been identified and partially purified by preparative gel electrophoresis. The polypeptides were both N-terminally blocked, but some N-terminal amino-acid sequence was obtained from a cyanogen bromide peptide common to both polypeptides, permitting the construction of an oligonucleotide probe. This probe was used to isolate the corresponding copy-DNA (cDNA) clone from a library made from poly(A)(+) RNA from immature cocoa beans. The cDNA sequence has a single major open reading frame, that translates to give a 566-amino-acid polypeptide of Mr 65 612. The existence of a common precursor to the 31- and 47-kDa polypeptides of this size was confirmed by immunoprecipitation from total poly(A)(+)RNA translation products. The precursor has an N-terminal hydrophobic sequence which appears to be a typical signal sequence, with a predicted site of cleavage 20 amino acids after the start. This is followed by a very hydrophilic domain of ∼ 110 amino acids, which, by analogy with the cottonseed α-globulin, is presumed to be cleaved off to leave a domain of approx. 47 kDa, very close to the observed size of the mature polypeptide. Like the hydrophilic domain of the cottonseed α-globulin the cocoa hydrophilic domain is very rich in glutamine and charged residues (especially glutamate), and contains several Cys-X-X-X-Cys motifs. The cyanogen-bromide peptide common to the 47-kDa and 31-kDa polypeptides is very close to the proposed start of the mature domain, indicating that the 31-kDa polypeptide arises via further C-terminal processing. The polypeptide sequence is homologous to sequences of the vicilin class of storage proteins, previously found only in legumes and cotton. Most of these proteins have a mature polypeptide size of approx. 47 kDa, and are synthesised as precursors only slightly larger than this. Some, however, are larger polypeptides (e.g. α-conglycinin from soybean is 72 kDa), usually due to an additional N-terminal domain. In cottonseed the situation appears to parallel that in cocoa in that the vicilin is synthesised as an approx. 70-kDa precursor and then processed to a 47-kDa (and in the case of cocoa also a 31-kDa) mature protein. In this context it is interesting that cotton is closer in evolutionary terms to cocoa than are the legumes, both cotton and cocoa being in the order Malvales.