The castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis L.), a member of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), is a versatile industrial oil crop that is cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Castor oil is of continuing importance to the global specialty chemical industry because it is the only commercial source of a hydroxylated fatty acid. Castor also has tremendous future potential as an industrial oilseed crop because of its high seed oil content, unique fatty acid composition, potentially high oil yields and ability to be grown under drought and saline conditions. Knowledge of genetic variability is important for breeding programs to provide the basis for developing desirable genotypes. The aim of this study was to assess genetic diversity within the set of 60 ricin genotypes using 10 SSR primers. Ten SSR primers revealed a total of 67 alleles ranging from 4 to 9 alleles per locus with a mean value of 6.70 alleles per locus. The PIC values ranged from 0.719 to 0.860 with an average value of 0.813 and the DI value ranged from 0.745 to 0.862 with an average value of 0.821. Probability of identity (PI) was low ranged from 0.004 to 0.018 with an average of 0.008. A dendrogram was constructed from a genetic distance matrix based on profiles of the 10 SSR loci using the unweighted pair-group method with the arithmetic average (UPGMA). According to analysis, the collection of 60 diverse accessions of castor bean was clustered into six clusters. We could not distinguish 2 genotypes grouped in cluster 1, RM-96 and RM-98, which are genetically the closest. Knowledge on the genetic diversity of castor can be used to future breeding programs of castor.

The knowledge of genetic diversity of wheat genotypes based on DNA and protein polymorphism is very important for breeding programs (MAS). The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variability among twentyfour European cultivars of common wheat using SDS-PAGE and RAPD techniques. Protein electrophoreses showed 31 polymorphic bands with 63.2% polymorphism. Genetic similarity based on Jaccard´s coefficient ranged from 0.067 to 0.933. Also twelve different Glu-1 encoded allelic variants were identified among these 24 genotypes resulting from combination of 3 alleles of Glu-1A, 7 of Glu-1B and 2 of Glu-1D loci. One novel allelic variant 6.5+7.5 at the Glu-1B locus was identified. RAPD analysis showed that the number of polymorphic amplicons was 56 out of a total of 63 amplicons, thus revealing a level of 37.56% polymorphism. Maximum level of polymorphism (55.8%) was observed for the primer OPA-03 and minimum one for OPD-08 (13.8%). Genetic similarity based on Jaccard´s coefficient ranged from 0.396 to 0.805. As a result of this investigation, might be expected that the SDS-PAGE using protein markers and RAPD-PCR using DNA markers would be a useful tool for assessment of genetic diversity among wheat genotypes.

Keywords: Storage proteins, HMW -GS, Triticum aestivum L.

The assessment of genetic diversity among the members of a species is of vital importance for successful breeding and adaptability. In the present study 40 old genotypes of maize from Hungary, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Slovak Republic  were evaluated for the total seed storage proteins using sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) through vertical slab unit. The number of total scorable protein bands was twentythree as a result of SDS-PAGE technique but those that were not cosistent in reproducibility and showed occasional variation in sharpness and density were not considered. Out of twentythree polypeptide bands, 6 (31%) were commonly present in all accessions and considered as monomorphic, while 17 (65%) showed variations and considered as polymorphic. On the basis of banding profiles of proteins of different kDa, gel was divided into zones A, B and C. The major protein bands were lied in zones A and B, while minor bands were present in zones C. In zone A out of 10 protein bands, 1 were monomorphic and 9 were polymorphic. In zone B out of 8 protein bands, 3 was monomorphic and 5 was polymorphic and in zone C out of 5 protein bands, 2 were monomorphic whereas 3 polymorphic. The dendrogram tree demonstrated the relationship among the forty registered old maize genotypes according to the similarity index, using UPGMA cluster analysis. The dendrogram was divided into two main clusters. The first one contained eleven genotypes from maize, while the second cluster contained the twentynine genotypes of maize. Similarly the present study of genetic variability in the seed storage polypeptide determined by SDS-PAGE technique proved that it is fruitful to identify genetic diversity among accessions of maize.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the main crops for human nutrition. The genetic variability of grown wheat has been reduced by modern agronomic practices, which inturn prompted the importance of search for species that could be useful as a genepool for the improving of flour quality for human consumption or for other industrial uses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the genetic diversity among 24 European wheat genotypes based on Random Amplified Polymorphism (RAPD) markers. A total of 29 DNA fragments were amplified with an average 4.83 polymorphic fragments per primer. The primer producing the most polymorphic fragments was SIGMA-D-P, where 7 polymorphic amplification products were detected. The lowest number of amplified fragments (3) was detected by using the primer OPB-08. The size of amplified products varied between 300 bp (OPE-07) to 3000 bp (SIGMA-D-P). The diversity index (DI) of the applied RAPD markers ranged from 0.528 (OPB-07) to 0.809 (SIGMA-D-P) with an average of 0.721. The polymorphism information content (PIC) of the markers varied from 0.469 (OPB-07) to 0.798 (SIGMA-D-P) with an average 0.692. Probability of identity (PI) was low ranged from 0.009 (SIGMA-D-P) to 0.165 (OPB-07) with an avarage 0.043. The dendrogram based on hierarchical cluster analysis using UPGMA algorithm was prepared. Within the dendrogram was separated the unique genotype Insegrain (FRA) from the rest of 23 genotypes which were further subdivided into two subclusters. In the first subclaster were grouped 13 genotypes and the second subcluster involved 10 genotypes. The first subcluster also included the genotype Bagou from France, in which were detected novel high -molecular -weight glutenin subunits using SDS-PAGE. Using 6 RAPD markers only two wheat genotypes have not been distinguished. Through that the information about genetic similarity and differences will be helpful to avoid any possibility of elite germplasm becoming genetically uniform.