Protein Hydrolysis in Dicots

The utilization of protein reserves has been studied mostly in the non-endosper-mic legumes on which we will concentrate here. 

Dry seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris have low activity of proteinase but a marked burst occurs about five days after the start of imbibition (Fig. 6.16A), which 

The eventual fate of the protein bodies of many species (dicots and monocots) following internal digestion of their contents is that they fuse to form vacuoles. 

In different species and tissues thereof this fusion may occur between more or less empty bodies, between bodies with incompletely degraded contents or, in some cases, between swollen but seemingly intact protein bodies (see Ref. 2 for examples). After depletion of the reserves the fused protein bodies may from the large central vacuole of the cell (e.g. Fig. 6.28). 

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