OIL PALM (ELAEIS-GUINEENSIS, JACQ.) ESTERASE GENETIC-POLYMORPHISM REVEALED BY ISOELECTRIC-FOCUSING IN POLYACRYLAMIDE-GEL

Oil Palm pollen extracts of 97 palms from 31 open pollinated progenies froin Bahia State, Brazil, were analyzed for fluorogenic esterases th rough polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing at two pH gradients. The re were a large number of bands distributed over five activity regions . Regions A, B and C presented monomorphic patterns and isozymes of re gion D were difficult to analyze. The observed profile for region E (e sterases E1 and E2) suggests that this control of this esterase is det ermined by two alleles and that this enzyme has a monomeric structure. Allelic and genotypic frequencies are presented for this locus. A hyp othesis for genetic control of the two isozyme variants detected is pr esented.