Prolamin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A class of plant storage proteins predominantly found in the seeds of cereals, characterized by their solubility in alcohol and poor digestibility by human enzymes
2. Seed storage proteins mainly present in grains that dissolve in alcohol solutions and often contribute to gluten formation in wheat and related cereals
3. Alcohol-soluble proteins located chiefly in cereal seeds, serving as nutrient reserves and influencing grain quality due to their limited digestibility and structural properties

Etymology: Prolamin is a coined scientific term, not an ancient word, and its history is a matter of straightforward word-building. It combines "prol-", a shortened form of "proline", the amino acid that is especially common in these proteins, with "-amin", from "amine", the chemical family of nitrogen-containing compounds to which amino acids belong. The result names a protein class defined by its composition. The name reflects the chemist's habit of building labels from the substances being described. Researchers studying cereal seed proteins found that a distinctive group of them dissolved in alcohol, and the term was formed to mark that group off from the other seed proteins. Its meaning is therefore fixed by the laboratory classification rather than by everyday speech.

Synonyms: gluten protein