Slower Moving to the Anode Malate Dehydrogenase Isozymes of Rye, Wheat and Triticale Seeds

Abstract

Summary The author's own modification of Davis' method (1964) for protein electrophoretic separation was used in an analysis of protein extracts from seeds of tetraploid and hexaploid forms of triticale, diploid and tetraploid rye, T. aestivum, T. durum . Results substantiated the conclusion that the slower moving to the anode isozymes were dimers. This corresponded to data from the dissociation — recombinant analysis of the mixture of T. durum and rye extracts. It was found that the two groups of isozymes separated specially on the gel differed in their relation to 2 M urea in the protein extract — those moving fast lost their activity completely, while the ones moving slower remained almost unchanged. This fact is connected with the known reference data that the most anodic isozymes in wheat and barley are from the fraction of cytoplasmic malate dehydrogenase (McDaniel 1969; Newton 1983). It was presumed that malate dehydrogenase isozymes of rye, wheat and triticale seeds moving slower to the anode belong to the mitochondrial fraction. It is pointed out that the reaction of malate dehydrogenase isozymes to urea in suitable concentrations could be used as an easily applied criterion differentiating the two basic types of malate dehydrogenase isozymes in a total protein extract.