Ribonucleoprotein particles of quiescent maize embryonic axes.

Certain RNA molecules are known to be sequestered and stored as ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) in many different tissues, particularly at some stages of metabolic quiescence. In this research RNPs from embryonic axes of mature maize seeds were isolated by sucrose and CsCl gradient centrifugation and characterized based on their RNA and protein contents. Two types of RNP particles of non-ribosomal nature were identified by northern blot analysis with specific probes: the 7S RNP and the signal recognition particle (SRP) particles which contain 5S rRNA and 7S RNA respectively. The proteins associated to these RNA molecules were the transcription factor TFIIIA-homologous protein associated to 7S RNP, and the p72, p68 and p54-GTPase proteins associated to SRP.