CHARACTERIZATION OF PROMISING SOUR CHERRIES REVEALED BY SDS-PAGE ANALYSIS

SDS-PAGE has been proved as one of the most important parameters for studying total protein as well as storage proteins in plants. In this study, seed storage proteins (SSPs) of promising sour cherries were analysed by SDS-PAGE with the aim of evaluating the variation among them. The results showed that total SSPs varied from 9.85-27.44 mg L-1, the maximum content of protein was observed in KaTaJo2Ge9 and KaThLa8Ge3. In addition, there were variation in their protein banding patterns which were analysed with SDS-PAGE and 22 bands were generated at these, so the number of present bands ranged from 12 to 21 with an average of 16.83 and frequency percentage varied from 54.54% to 95.45% with an average of 76.51%. The maximum number of protein bands was observed in the KaTaJo2Ge9 and KaThLa8Ge31. Variation was also observed in the density and sharpness of some bands especially in the bands 25 and 29 kDa that were mainly sharper in the KaTaJo2Ge9 and KaThLa8Ge31 than others. Moreover, the results of cluster analysis showed that the sour cherries were classified into eight groups in which individual accessions varied from 0.70 to 0.92 similarity level and promising accessions separated from improved cultivars that the KaTaJo2Ge9 and KaThLa8Ge31 were placed in the same sub-cluster. These two sour cherries KaTaJo2Ge9 and KaThLa8Ge3 had higher fruit redness, anthocyanins contents, and sugars compared to others. This can be releated to the total protein contents and it's expreession in the ripening time. In conclusion, electrophoresis of seed storage proteins can be used to assess genetic variability, relation, and identification of germplasm.