Polyadenylated mRNA was purified from the aleurone cells of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar) seeds germinated for 18 h and used for the construction of a cDNA library. Clones with the alpha-galactosidase encoding gene were identified using oligo-nucleotide mixed probes based on the NH2 terminal amino acid sequence and on the sequence of an internal peptide. The nucleotide sequence of the cDNA clone showed that the enzyme is synthesized as a precursor with a 47 amino acid NH2 terminal extension. This pre-sequence most likely functions to target the protein outside the aleurone cells into the endosperm. Based upon structural features, it is proposed to divide the precursor into a pre-(signal sequence) part and a glycosylated pro-part comparable with those of the yeast mat A/alpha factor and killer factor. A comparison of the derived amino acid sequence of this alpha-galactosidase from plant origin revealed significant stretches of homology with respect to the amino acid sequences of the enzymes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and from human origin but only to a minor extent compared with the alpha-galactosidase from Escherichia coli.