Sorghum cultivar verification by electrophoresis

Abstract

Abstract After comparing the merits of three different electrophoretic methods of separating cereal prolamins, a procedure for sorghum cultivar verification by urea‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has been developed. The problem of the tannins in high‐tannin (bird‐resistant) cultivars rendering the prolamins insoluble has been overcome by extracting the proteins in the presence of polyvinylpolypyrrolidone. As with other cereals, the electrophoretic pattern of the prolamins was unaffected by the environment in which the plants were grown. Further, the pattern was not affected by long‐term storage of the grain, and cultivars appear to remain unique with respect to their prolamin proteins through many generations.