Quantifying accumulation characteristics of glutelin and prolamin in rice grains

Glutelin and prolamin are the two major proteins in rice grains. Grain content of glutelin is considerably higher than that of prolamin in rice, but there is limited information on the factors determining the different grain contents of glutelin and prolamin. To address this knowledge gap, the present study compared final weight per grain and accumulation characteristics of glutelin and prolamin in four rice cultivars. Results showed that final glutelin weight per grain was 3.24–3.95 times higher than final prolamin weight per grain. Glutelin and prolamin accumulation processes were well fitted by the logistic equation. The initial, maximum, and mean accumulation rates of glutelin were 1.69–4.67 times higher than those of prolamin. The active accumulation duration of glutelin was 2.9–5.1 d longer than that of prolamin. These results indicate that both higher accumulation rate and longer active accumulation duration are responsible for the higher final weight per grain of glutelin compared to prolamin in rice.