CORN CULTIVAR IDENTIFICATION THROUGH HEAT RESISTANT PROTEINS

Abstract

Stable and polymorphic markers are required for the identification and registration of the cultivars. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the heat resistant proteins polymorphism and stability of seeds from corn lines harvested in different years and dried under natural and artificial conditions, in order to employ such proteins in the identification and registration of the cultivars. The seeds showed different physiological quality when evaluated by germination test and the heat resistant proteins were extracted from embryonic axis from seeds of each line, in Tris-HCl 0,05 M buffer. The eletrophoretic patterns of these proteins in SDS-PAGE showed stable bands for each genotype even for the lines with higher variation in the germination test. The most similar corn inbred lines were distinguished, at least by two bands, showing that these proteins were highly polymorphic. The stability and the high level of polymorphism of the heat resistant proteins, make them potential markers in corn cultivars registration and identification programs.

Keywords

• seeds
• proteins: molecular marker: cultivars identification