Abstract

Somaclonal variation is one of the possible sources of variation in plant breeding. To evaluate the usefulness of somaclonal variation for creating variation in Iranian cultivars of wheat, proteins, enzymes and chromosome number of regenerated and seed-produced plants of wheat (Alamout, Hyrmand and Maroon) were studied. Plantlets obtained from the immature embryos and seed culture were collected and used for studying proteins, peroxidases, polyphenoloxidases and superoxidedismutases by using Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and PAGE. The root tips of plantlets were used for chromosome counting. In the SDS-PAGES system, regenerated plants had 5 additional protein bands. The number of protein bands in PAGE system were less than the SDS-PAGE system but the later system represented a greater difference between seed-produced plants and regenerated plants. Peroxidase had 6 isozymes, 3 of which were similar among all plants. Nine isozymes of superoxidedismutase were found, 5 of which were common in all. Polyphenoloxidase showed no changes in regenerated plants. Cytological study of the three regenerated cultivars indicated the Maroon cultivar to possess a greater chromosome number (2n=54 or 60) than the other two (2n=6x=42). Somaclonal variation was observed in cultivars, but the nature of variation was different.