Characterizing allelic proteins for genome mapping in maize

Mapping cDNA probes in order to construct genetic linkage maps is becoming a widespread strategy for genome analysis and gene isolation, particularly in cultivated plant species. Nevertheless, almost all cDNAs reveal two or more unlinked loci, making it difficult to identify the gene(s) actually expressed. In a highly polymorphic species, such as maize, two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) of proteins may circumvent this limitation. With the analysis of various segregating populations, we previously showed that the apparent position shifts of proteins on the 2-D gels are monogenic and codominant. In this paper we compared allelic proteins on the basis of their high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) profile and partial amino acid sequences. In a sample of 20 position shifts, the allelic proteins appeared to be similar in all but one case, strongly suggesting that polymorphism of structural genes is involved. Thus 2-D PAGE could prove to be a useful tool for genome mapping: when a cDNA probe detects several loci, a position shift of the encoded protein will allow the identification of the gene translated in the organ considered.