The changes and characteristics of endopeptidase （EP） isoenzymes in cucumber （Cucumis sativus L.） leaves during dark-induced senescence were investigated by activity staining after gradient-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis （G-PAGE） containing co-polymerized gelatin as substrate. The results showed that both the chlorophyll and the protein contents of leaves were decreased, and the protein degradation was correlated with the increase of proteolytic activity during the course of leaf senescence. Meanwhile, nine cucumber endopeptidases isoenzymes （CEP） with 140, 120, 106, 94, 76, 55, 46, 39 and 35 kDa molecular weights were detected. Four of these, CEP2, 3, 4 and CEP9 appeared all the time, but the changes of the activity were different during incubation. Another four CEPs （CEP5, 6, 7 and CEP8） whose activities increased with dark-induced time were only detected in senescent leaves. Furthermore, the biochemical properties of these nine CEP were also characterized. All the CEPs had high activities from 35 ℃ to 45 ℃, and the optimum temperature was found to be 40 ℃. However, the activities of CEPs were not detected below 25 ℃ or over 60 ℃. The activity bands appeared at a wide range of pH from 5.0 to 9.0, but the optimum pH was found at 7.0. No CEPs were detected at pH 4 or pH 10. By inhibition analysis we concluded that CEP2, 3, 4 and CEP9 were serine endopeptidases and CEP6 was a kind of cysteine protease. It is suggested that serine endopeptidases might play a major role in cucumber leaf senescence, and for the first time, six senescencerelated endopeptidases （CEP1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9） were found in cucumber leaves.
Peng Zhang Fei Wang Lie-Feng Zhang Qi Rui Lang-Lai Xu
The endopeptidases （EPs） in wheat endosperm during seed germination and subsequent seedling growth were characterized by gradient-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with gelatin copolymerized into the gel. Four cysteine EPs （EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4） were detected in wheat endosperm during the 7 d growth after seed imbibition. The results also showed that the activities of all of these EPs increased continuously, and EP2 first appeared and had the highest proteolytic activity among the four EPs in this experimental process. The optimum pH and temperature of all four EPs were 4.0 and 40.0 ~C. All EPs were completely inhibited by 25 μmol/L E-64 and had no good thermal stabilities, especially EP1. In addition, these EPs had different substrate specificities to albumins, globulins, gliadins and glutenins; the main storage proteins of mature wheat endosperm. Among them, EP2 had the highest proteolytic activities on globulins, gliadins and glutenins, and might be the most important and specific EP with potential to be tightly correlated with seedling development.
