Isozyme electrophoretic characterization of 29 related cultivars of lily (Lilium spp.)

Isozyme banding patterns (IBPs) were studied for cultivars of lily (Lilium spp.) by means of horizontal starch‐gel electrophoresis (SGE). An array of continuous histidine‐citrate buffer systems at eight ranges of pH and four extraction buffers were tested. On the basis of this survey, the extraction buffer two (Eb‐2) and the buffer system E at pH 7.7 were found to be suitable for detection of lily isozymes. Using the SGE technique, IBP in catalase (CAT; EC 1.11.1.6), esterase (EST; EC 3.1.1.1), malate dehydrogenase (MDH; EC 1.1.1.37), malic enzyme (MAL; EC 1.1.1.40), peroxidase (POX; EC 1.11.1.7), phosphoglucomutase (PGM; EC 2.7.5.1), phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI; EC 5.3.1.9) and 6‐phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD; EC 1.1.1.44) were assayed. In total 29 cultivars were tested in this study: nine were analysed for all eight enzyme systems, 16 cultivars for seven systems, three for six, and one for five enzyme systems. Some IBP were identified as section‐specific biochemical markers. Eight enzymes systems were analysed by constructing a dendogram using the unweighted pair group method, arithmetic average (UPGMA) cluster analysis. The analysis indicated that the lily cultivars could be separated from other Lilium species, except for two L. x formonlogi cultivars:‘Hakuba’ and ‘Hakuko’ which could not be distinguished from each other by the isozyme patterns assayed here. This study shows that isozymes can provide useful biochemical markers for lily cultivar identification and to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among those cultivars.