Proteins of ten flax genotypes having different levels of susceptibility to powdery
mildew (PM) were compared by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis (SOS-PAGE). Gels were stained with Coomassie Brillian Blue R-250
(CBB) or silver nitrate (SN). Cluster analsysis of the protein banding patterns by the
unweighted pair-group method based on arithmetic means (UPGMA) placed the
genotypes in several groups with overall similarity levels ranged from 66.56 for SN to
95.65% for CBB, which indicates that SN was more sensitive than CBB to detect the
differences among the genotypes in protein banding patterns. Grouping the cultivars
based on their protein banding patterns stained with SN was not related to their
susceptibility to PM. The results of this study indicate that cultivar specific bands may
be useful as biochemical markers for cultivar identification or for seed purity tests.