Seed Electrophorentic Characterization and Taxonomic Implications of some accessions of Abelmoschus esculentus L. (Moench) in Nigeria

Abstract

Five accessions of Abelmoschus esculentus (okra) were subjected to electrophoretic analysis. Analysis of total soluble proteins in seeds was done by using one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The main aim of the study was to discriminate the Okra accessions based on the nature of seed protein present in the seeds. On the basis of banding pattern zymogram was sketched, shows polymorphic which means presence of more than one band in each genotype. There are 11 zymotypes observed at different Rf values varied from 0.082-0.983. We scored the bands based on 0 for absence and 1 for presence of each band, then similarity coefficients was calculated which ranged from 0.62 to 1. Electrophoresis of seed proteins showed a total of 11 bands in NGB01288 and NGB01280; also all the intensity was presence, whereas for rest of the genotypes some bands were absent. The critical bands for identification were the bands at Rf values 0.877, 0.729, 0.491, 0.237, 0.147 and 0.082 which formed the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th bands respectively. Through the presence and absence of band in each of the accessions dendrogram was formed and it was clustered into different groups which revealed a close relationship among all the accessions. The SDS-page analysis of seed proteins showed not only the total number of bands, but also their intensity in term of thickness. Hence, the present study obviously indicated the use of SDS page profile through electrophoresis for discrimination of Okra genotypes.