Studies on genetic diversity in some selected medicinal plants of family -Solanaceae using reproductive characters and protein profiling

Reproductive characters and protein profiles of five medicinal plants (Solanum nigrum, Solanum xanthocarphum, Withania somnifera, Capsicum annum and Datura stramonium) of family Solanaceae were estimated through gel electrophoresis. The present investigation revealed that the highest percentage pollen viability was recorded in Datura stramonium (84%) which revealed that this genus has highest reproductive power as well as power of division and lowest percentage pollen viability was obtained in Withania somnifera (67%), which means this genus become scarce. Total seed storage protein profile was examined using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). A total of 51 bands were scored, out of them 50 were polymorphic with a total of 98.03% polymorphism and only 1 band was monomorphic with 1.96% monomorphism. The electrophoresis of the total seed proteins revealed protein bands in the range of 125 KD to less than 13 KD molecular weight. The similarity index calculated on the basis of presence and absence of bands ranged from 0.029 to 0.333. A dendrogram constructed based on UPGMA (unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages) showed distinct separation of the collected species into three clusters. This study revealed high genetic variability among the selected members and suggests possibilities for improvement through hybridization programs.