Genomics & Pharmacogenomics

Biography

Biography: Ernestina Valadez-Moctezuma

Abstract

Little is known about Opuntia seed storage proteins and their contribution to the differentiation and systematic of genotypes. The variation between 102 genotypes of Mexican Opuntia was investigates using electrophoretic patterns SDS-PAGE of their seed total protein (STPs) and seed storage proteins (SSPs). Albumins and globulins were the most abundant protein fractions with contents that oscillated between 2.6 and 11.9 mg/mL and between 2.6 and 9.5 mg/mL respectively. These were followed by glutelins fraction (2.3-8.5 mg/mL) and prolamins as the lowest (1.1-7.9 mg/mL) of the four seed protein factions. Equally, STPs content varied between 1.13 and 7.12 mg/mL. Therefore, the total protein content and the different protein fractions were not found to be correlated with any of the seed morphological behaviors. However, regardless of variations in protein content estimated in seeds, the electrophoretic patterns of STPs and SSPs as revealed in their SDS-PAGE were not so variable. Furthermore, the individual analysis of each STPs or the SSPs analyses separately were not enough to differentiate Opuntia genotypes included in the study. The cluster and multivariate analyses indicated that there is no separation between accessions of species of the prickly pear (sweets fruits) and xoconostle (acidic fruits) even though the latter were grouped together. Based on biochemical markers analyzed herein, the need for revision of taxonomic assignment of genotypes belonging to the genus Opuntia was suggested.