Figure 1

Domain structure of the five starch synthase proteins from A. thaliana . The starch synthases from A. thaliana are the granula-bound starch synthase (AtGBSS) and four soluble synthases (AtSSI to AtSSIV). For comparison, three prokaryotic glycogen synthases [from Pyrococcus abyssi (PaGS), Agrobacterium tumefaciens (AtuGS) and Escherichia coli (EcGS)] were included. The N-terminus of the starch/glycogen synthases is at the left, the C-terminus (black) is at the right. The conserved domains of the glycosyl transferase family 5 (GT5) and the glycosyl transferase family 1 (GT1) are given in white. The linker region between GT5 and GT1 (dark gray) and C-terminal extensions (black) are indicated. The red line at the N-terminal region of GT5 marks the position of the highly conserved motif KXGGL. The N-terminal extension of AtSSII contains a serine-rich (Ser-rich) region and three conserved carbohydrate binding modules of family 25 (CBM 25). For all starch synthases, the N-terminal transit peptides are given in grey.