In this study, an array of electrophoretic and immunochemical techniques was used to investigate the legumins, vicilins and albumins of seed storage proteins in
Pisum sativum
,
Vicia faba
,
Lens esculentum
, and
Cicer arietinum
to delimit the boundary of the tribe
Vicieae
and to clarify the systematic position of the genus
Cicer
. The band patterns of the legumins of these species were broadly similar in that they had bands at Mr 60 kDa which disappeared in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol, giving rise to two sets of new bands, at Mr approximately 40 kDa and 20 kDa, representing acidic or α and basic or β subunits. The band patterns of the vicilins were also quite similar in that they showed bands at Mr approximately 71 kDa (convicilin) and 50 kDa (vicilin), which were not altered by the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. Serologically, the legumins of
Vicia faba
and
Lens esculentum
exhibited total identity with
Pisum
legumin antiserum under nonreducing conditions, whereas the legumin of
Cicer arietinum
exhibited only partial identity, which was attributed to the failure of the low molecular subunit pair (Mr 33 kDa) to react with
Pisum
legumin antiserum. On the other hand, the vicilins of
Vicia faba
,
Lens esculentum
and
Cicer arietinum
had only partial identity with the vicilin of
Pisum sativum
, which was due to the failure of a number of subunits along the electrophoretic patterns of these species to react with
Pisum sativum
vicilin antiserum. The electrophoretic patterns of
Vicia faba
,
Lens esculentum
and
Cicer arietinum
were markedly different for the albumins. However, immunochemically they gave a positive reaction with
Pisum
major albumin antiserum (Mr 25 kDa) and showed a band with a molecular weight slightly higher than the major albumin of
Pisum sativum
. Extending the immunochemical study to members of the
Phaseoleae, Glycineae, Cajaneae
and
Diocleae
revealed that the vicilin and legumin of
Cicer
were more closely related to the
Vicieae
than to these tribes. Thus the data presented in this work recommended the classification of
Cicer
under
Vicieae
rather than as a separate tribe
Cicerideae
.
Structure and function of seed storage proteins in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)