Isozyme polymorphism and seed and cone variability of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris l.) in relation to local environments in Poland

Evolutionary processes lead to the survival of individuals best adapted to local environment. This gives rise to allele polymorphism and genetic diversity of populations. Isoenzyme proteins, which are the product of gene expression, are an effective tool for tracking these changes. On the other hand, the reproductive potential of a given population can be assessed based on its ability to produce viable and efficiently germinating seeds. The present results combine molecular analyses of isoenzyme proteins with anatomical and morphological studies of Scots pine seeds (Pinus sylvestris L.). The study was conducted in 6 populations that are characteristic of this species occurrence range in the country. The results confirm the correlation between seed weight and embryo size. They also show a population from northeastern Poland had a higher effective number of alleles and seed with lower germinative energy and capacity. There was genetic homogeneity in all except for the population from Woziwoda, which was significantly different based on the Fst test. The genetic characteristics of Scots pine from Woziwoda may be associated with the lower levels of rainfall that occur there during the growing season. The results improve our knowledge of Scots pine variability and contribute to the discussion of the impact of local environment on genetic variability.

Initial screening of vegetable amaranth landraces towards extending the vegetable list

<p>Vegetable amaranth is considered as one of the most favorite vegetables in the world, especially in the hot and humid tropical regions of the globe. Two of them are most popular i.e., <em>Amaranthus tricolor</em> and <em>Amaranthus blitum</em>, both are represented by a large number of morphotypes or landraces or varieties, which are taxonomically ill-defined, many of them are consumed as palatable vegetables as they look like the conventional cultivars. Due to wide morphological diversity and presence of many synonyms both the species are supposed to represent two species complex or aggregates viz., “Tricolor complex” and “Blitum complex”. Two new species have been identified from their landraces. In the present investigation morphometric analysis along with biochemical and molecular methodologies were applied to explore the relative closeness among few well known, popular vegetables and few less known landraces for better utilization of the crop biodiversity of vegetable amaranths. The experimental data were statistically analyzed and separate Dendrograms were computed on three parameters (Morphology, Isozyme polymorphism and ISSR band profile).The members of “Tricolor complex” were clustered together in a single group along with two newly introduced species <em>A. bengalense</em> (a member of “Blitum complex”) and <em>A. parganensis</em> (a gynomonoecious member of “Tricolor complex”). Tricolor complex represents a plexus of species with varying sexual behavior from gynomonoecy to monoecy and indicates probable origin of monoecious <em>Amaranthus</em> <em>tricolor </em>varieties or landraces from gynomonecious member like <em>A. parganensis</em> as recent introduction. The study indicated a close alliance between <em>A. bengalense</em>, <em>A. parganensis</em>, <em>A. tricolor</em> landrace and popular <em>A. tricolor</em> varieties which consolidated the feasibility of utilizing the landrace and newly introduced species as potential vegetable.</p>

Analysis of Several Popular Cultivars of Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don.) using Biochemical Markers

Band designs of esterase (EST), peroxidase (PO) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) isozymes in several selected cultivars of Catharanthus roseus by using native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) were investigated in this study. It was confirmed that cultivar differences in isozyme polymorphism can be revealed by applied electrophoretic patterns. Three isozyme systems produced a total of 16 bands with polymorphism ranged from 66.6-100%. Considering the patterns of isozyme variations in the five cultivars of Catharanthus roseus, it is evident that the cultivar ‘First kiss coral’ displayed crimson red petal with large white eye’ displayed demarked profiles of EST, PO and PPO isozymes than other cultivars. This is the first report on isozyme polymorphism in members of the Cathanarathus roseus (L.) G. Don.

Isozyme polymorphism to detect genetic diversity of Jatropha curcas (L.) in India

The Indian Government identified Jatropha curcas L. as the most suitable treeborne oilseed for the production of bio-diesel. The species has spread to many parts of India due to its ability to withstand adverse conditions. Breeding of inter and intra specific Jatrophas for the exploitation of hybrid vigour is one of the most economical means of tree improvement. To study the genetic base of the species distributed in India, 55 accessions of J. curcas from Jammu to Kanyakumari and Jodhpur to Kolkata were assessed using isozyme markers. Fifteen enzyme systems were evaluated for their efficacy in distinguishing the accessions. While three (formate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and peroxidase) were found useful, twelve did not exhibit any variation and had fixed monomorphic alleles. Each polymorphic enzyme system produced one well resolved polymorphic region except peroxidase which had three. On an average 4 loci (26.67%) were found to be polymorphic (P) and mean observed number of alleles per locus (A) was 1.533. Average observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.1082 and expected value (He) was 0.0993 with and gene flow Nm = 0.2177 showing low level of genetic variation among different accessions suggesting poor segregation of genes over generations. The isozyme variation was measured by standard gene diversity measures using POPGENE v. 1.32. Dendrograms revealed very low heterozygosity leaving little scope for exploitation of hybrid vigour and suggesting that initiating breeding programmes with Indian land races may not lead to substantial genetic gain, vigorous seed set and higher volumes of oil yield.