Seed protein patterns of Cucurbitaceae and their taxonomic implications

Abstract Salt-soluble proteins of seeds of several taxa of Cucurbitaceae were examined by SDS-PAGE. Three to five major protein bands were detected in most of the 22 species studied with some variations. Most genera had distinctly different protein patterns; however, Gymnopetalum was very similar to Trichosanthes (tribe Benincaseae). Mukia appeared to be distinct from Cucumis although both of them belong to the same subtribe. Sechium differs from most of the cucurbits. Within any genus, different taxa showed almost identical protein patterns as in Momordica (two varieties), Luffa (three species), Cucumis (two species), Cucurbita (two species) and Trichosanthes (four species). The dendrograms obtained from cluster analysis of similarity matrices of proteins revealed both similarities and dissimilarities with current concepts of taxonomic relationships of the taxa examined.