Electrophoretic study of seed storage proteins in the genus Hypericum L. in North of Iran

In this research we studied the electrophoretic of seed storage proteins in the genus Hypericum L. from Iran. The plant samples were collected from various phytogeographical regions of Iran to study the seed storage proteins. The study was performed to determine the boundary among different species of genus Hypericum using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). All samples belong to three species of H. perforatum, H. tetrapterum and H. androsaemum. A total of 22 protein bands were observed in the studied species. The results show that H. perforatum, H. tetrapterum are closely related based on seed storage proteins. A closely relationship and high protein similarity (J=0.66) were found between H. perforatum, H. tetrapterum. Electophoretic results compared with earlier molecular and morphological studies. The highest number of bands was observed in Kordkoy1 population (Pop12) and Gardane heyran population (Pop20) of H. perforatum and the lowest in Gorgan/Naharkhoran population (Pop 25) of H. androsaemum. Our results showed the species of Hypericum were placed intermixed. The aim of this study to delimit species in the genus Hypericum and used these seeds storage protein for the correct identification.