HETEROGENEITY AND POLYMORPHISM OF SEED PROTEINS IN TEF (ERAGROTIS TEF)

Albumin, globulin, and prolamin fractions were extracted from seeds of tef(Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) and separated using several SDS-P AGE procedures and 1-D isoelectric focusing. This showed that all frac tions were highly polymorphic, with differences in the prolamin fracti ons allowing the 37 cultivars and lines to be classified into seven gr oups, each containing between one and fourteen lines. The results also indicate that there is potential to exploit the polymorphism in album ins and globulins in order to identify genotypes with enhanced nutriti onal quality.