The technique of horizontal electrophoresis of 12% starch gel was used to characterize eight accesses of Polygonum punctatum Ell. The isozymatic phenotypes of the malate dehydrogenase (MDH), acid phosphatase (ACP), peroxidase (PO), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), esterase (EST), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), glutamate oxalacetate transaminase (GOT), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and shikimate dehydrogenase (SKDH) were determined using young leaves extracts of each accession. The electrophoresis was performed in corn starch and hydrolysed starch gels. The corn starch showed a satisfactory resolution, for separation of the isozymics bands of IDH, ADH and MDH. However, for the other systems, the hydrolysed starch presented better resolution. All enzyme systems studied, except for LAP, presented high polymorphism, allowing to establish individual patterns in all accesses, demonstrating the potential of the isozymes as genetic markers for the Polygonum.
Polygonum punctatum Ell.; isozymes; genetic diversity
