Evaluation of Genetic Diversity within Some Cucurbitaceae Seeds from Nigeria using Electrophoresis

Abstract

Taxonomic relationships within seven species of Cucurbitaceae; melon seeds were examined at the molecular level with the help of seed storage proteins using electrophoretic methods. Water soluble seed proteins were resolved into 99 and 218 bands respectively under Native-and SDS-PAGE. Similarly 132 and 123 bands respectively were observed for buffer soluble proteins. For water soluble proteins under Native-PAGE, the Jaccard's similarity indexes indicated that Lagenaria siceraria/Cucurbita moschata showed highest similarity index (~96%) while Cucumis sativus/Colocynthis vulgaris showed the lowest similarity index (~35%). For buffer extracts, highest similarity index (~81%) was exhibited by C. sativus/C. maxima while C. sativus /C. mannii showed lowest similarity index (~51%). For water soluble proteins under SDS-PAGE, highest similarity index (~78%) was found between C. maxima /C. vulgaris and the lowest similarity index (34%) was observed between C. sativus /L. siceraria. For buffer extracts, highest similarity index (~98%) was exhibited by C. mannii /C. moschata while C. maxima/C. vulgaris showed the lowest similarity index (~41%). However, from the dendograms constructed, buffer soluble proteins under SDS-PAGE proved to be the best method as it was the only one that grouped C. mannii and C. edulis according to their taxonomic classification.