Electrophoretic Identification of Cross‐Pollinated Bentgrass Species and Cultivars

Abstract

Analysis of isoenzyme phenotypes as an identification method has been used mainly in apomictic and vegetatively propagated species and/or cultivars. This study was conducted to demonstrate an improvement in the use of electrophoresis for cross‐pollinated Agrostis cultivar identification. A bulk leaf sample extract of approximately 200 seedling plants from each of 32 cultivars and/or seed lots from four Agrostis species was examined for phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), triosephosphate isomerase (TPI), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), and peroxidase (PRX) isoenzyme activities by starch gel electrophoresis. Isoenzyme activities at PGI‐2 region showed the most distinctive polymorphism, and we could identify 24 of 26 tested cultivars (twelve A. palustris Huds, 10 A. capillaris L., one A. castellana Boiss. and Reut., two A. gigantea Roth., and one A. canina L.) based on PGI‐2 banding patterns. A. palustris cultivars were separated into four groups by both TPI and GOT banding patterns. Ten cultivars of A. capillaris L. and one A. castellana Boiss. and Reut. were separated into four groups by TPI. Peroxidase banding patterns were predominantly effective for species separation only. Our results demonstrated that the electrophoresis technique is a quick, accurate, and repeatable identification method for cross‐pollinated Argostis cultivars.