Fractionation and Electrophoretic Patterns of Storage Proteins of Ebenus cretica. A preliminary Survey as a Tool in Taxonomy

Seed storage proteins of Ebenus cretica were fractionated to albumins, globulins, prolamins and glutelins according to their solubility in water, 0.5 M NaCl solution, 55 % propanol-2 and 0.125 M sodium borate (pH 9.0) containing 0.5 % SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) solution, respectively. Glutelins consist of the major (about 81 %) fraction of the total extracted proteins. Analysis by SDS-PAGE revealed that the total extracted protein patterns from different racemes of the same plant were similar, while those from seeds of different plants were different. In addition, distinct differences were observed within protein patterns of alkaline extractable glutelin fractions and salt soluble globulin fractions. In E. cretica four ecotypes (A – D) were distinguished by SDS-PAGE of total extracted seed proteins. The last method was more simple and rapid than others and was suggested for screening analysis. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.