Recently we have compared isozyme patterns of several enzymes and antigen spectra of reserve globulins in maize and annual teosinte [Z. mays ssp. mexicana (Schrad.) Iltis]. While isozyme spectra were identical in maize and teosinte (MNL 51:83, 1977), Guatemalan teosinte race Huixta had apparently lower content of the slow-migrating globulin component than maize and the Mexican race of teosinte, Chalco (MNL 53:44, 1979).

Here we present protein patterns comparing maize, teosinte Chalco (which is the most maizoid by its morphological features), and four more distant forms of teosinte, namely Z. mays ssp. mexicana, race Huehuetenango, Z. mays ssp. luxurians (Durieu) Iltis, Z. perennis (Hitchcock) Reeves and Mangelsdorf, and Z. diploperennis Iltis, Doebly & Guzman. Seed samples of teosinte were kindly provided by Dr. H. H. Iltis (University of Wisconsin, Madison). Several samples of two indigenous races of maize, namely Palomero Toluqueno and Nal-Tel, were obtained from Krasnodar and Raleigh collections by courtesy of Dr. V. S. Shcherbak (Krasnodar Agricultural Research Institute) and Dr. M. M. Goodman (North Carolina State University).

Maize (hybrid Krasnodarsky 303 TV) and teosinte differed quantitatively in their antigen spectra, the content of the slowest globulin component decreasing in the following order: maize > Chalco > Huehuetenango = luxurians > perennis = diploperennis (Fig. 1). The difference was especially pronounced when antiserum raised against wheat globulins was used instead of that of maize. However, it should be mentioned that this difference may partly depend on the relative size of the embryo where globulins are preferentially localized (Khavkin et al., Planta 143:11, 1978).

Seven isozyme patterns (Fig. 2) were employed to evaluate genetic polymorphism in maize races and teosinte. Monomorphic spectra were characteristic of both Krasnodar samples while in the Raleigh collections several samples were polymorphic for two or three enzymes (Table 1). The data for two collections usually agreed, however, there were some discrepancies concerning the patterns of glutamate, 6-phosphogluconate and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenases, and phosphoglucomutase (especially samples GUA 458 and 765).

While teosinte Chalco bore the most typical "maizoid" isozyme spectra identical to that of Palomero Toluqueno maize, race Huehuetenango and two more distant forms of teosinte, luxurians and diploperennis, were wide apart from Chalco by their pattern of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

E. A. Mozgova, T. B. Sukhorzhevskaya, and E. E. Khavkin

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