Genetic Analysis of Ginseng Germplasm by Lactate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis of Seed Protein

Systematic electrophoretic analysis of alcohol-soluble proteins and salt-soluble proteins of 247 Panax ginseng (P.g) and Panax quinquefolium (P.q) germplasms seed was carried out on an improved lactate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a method with high resolving power, good reproducibility and stability. The electrophoregrams of proteins, according to their migration rate, were classified into four groups such as ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$, ${\gamma}$ and $\omega$ for the alcohol-soluble proteins and three such as I, II and III for the salt-soluble ones. Panax ginseng or Panax quinquefolium had their own unique band pattern distinguishable from each other, regarding as their specific "fingerprint". In this study, 3 of 168 (1.8%) P.g germplasms and 1 of 79 (1.3%) P.q germplasms had their own unique band pattern, showing that P.g and P.q germplasms have poor genetic diversity in species. The band patterns of dry seed and stratified seed (embryo rate=60%) were basically the same. The band number of the F, hybrid of p.gx p.q was exactly equivalent to the number of the common bands plus the specific bands of the two parents, indicating that the difference of band patterns was a genetic trait con- trolled by the nuclear genes. The electrophoregram of F1 of P.g x P.q could be predicted by that of the two parents and the band pattern of the F1 hybrids could be demnonstrated by that of the mixed seed extract from the two parents.