The amount of available genotypes of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) to the agriculturists is minimum and the knowledge concerning genotypes from other countries, which could be used in this crop plant breeding is scarcely known. This work had the purpose of assessing the genetic variability of 31 accessions and of five cultivars to the isoenzymatic systems phosphoglucomutase (PGM), phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PDG), glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (PGI) and carboxylesterase (EST). The starch or penetrose gel electrophoresis technique was applied aiming the fractionation of the PGM, PGI and PGD isoenzymes, and the EST isoelectric focusing. Six loci and 14 alleles to these four systems were detected. Allelic variation were observed on the Pgi2, Pgm1, Pgd2 loci, two alleles each, and to Est1, which displayed six alleles. The goodness of fit tests for the Hardy-Weinberg and Wright equilibrium models indicated that ten accession showed a significant excess of selfing.
Helianthus annuus; proteins; enzyme polymorphism; genetic variation
