InterPro domain: IPR006045

This entry represents the conserved beta-barrel fold of the 'cupin' superfamily ('cupa' is the Latin term for a small barrel). This family contains 11S and 7S plant seed storage proteins, and germins. Plant seed storage proteins provide the major nitrogen source for the developing plant [ 1 , 2 , 3 ].

This domain can also be found as a central component of many microbial proteins including certain types of phosphomannose isomerase, polyketide synthase, epimerase, and dioxygenase [ 4 ].

1. Cupins: a new superfamily of functionally diverse proteins that include germins and plant storage proteins. Biotechnol. Genet. Eng. Rev. 15, 1-32
2. [Evolution of seed storage globulins and cupin superfamily]. Mol. Biol. (Mosk.) 45, 579-85
3. Structural, Functional and Evolutionary Aspects of Seed Globulins. Protein Pept. Lett. 24, 267-277
4. Microbial relatives of the seed storage proteins of higher plants: conservation of structure and diversification of function during evolution of the cupin superfamily. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 64, 153-79