Study of Pollen Biomolecules in Seven Species of Solanum L.

Abstract

The aim of this research work is to analyse the biomolecules of pollen present in seven different species of Solanum L. i.e., S. erianthum, S. indicum, S. macranthum, S. melongena, S. sisymbriifolium, S. torvum and S. xanthocarpum. The pollen grains were collected from plants growing in Santiniketan, Sriniketan, Prantik and Bolpur of Birbhum district. The flowering season, anthesis time, pollen morphology, pollen protein profile were studied and total carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, amino acids, DNA were estimated using standard methods. The flowering season and anthesis time vary among the studied species. The size of pollen grains varies between 17 x 16 µm to 68 x 72 µm. The total content of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins were highest in S. xanthocarpum whereas total free amino acid and DNA was highest in S. erianthum. The S. macranthum reported lowest amount of total lipids, proteins and free amino acids among all. The proline present in all species ranging 0.59-3.00 mg/g, an essential amino acid for pollen germination. The SDS- PAGE of pollen protein revealed 44 major polypeptide bands of different molecular weight ranging from 19 kDa to 135 kDa and variation in polypeptide bands observed from 7 to 13. A dendrogram was drawn based on morphology and biomolecules of pollen found that S. macranthum, showed less similarity with other species and it placed alone in a separate cluster.