Survey of isozyme polymorphism for clonal identification inMusa.

A high degree of polymorphism was prevalent for isozymes/allozymes of peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in 44 cultivars of Indian bananas and plantains. However, the degree of polymorphism with shikimate dehydrogenases and malate dehydrogenases was less. The numbers of cultivar-specific enzyme ‘phenotypes’ were 12 for peroxidase, 16 for superoxide dismutase, eight for malate dehydrogenase and two for shikimate dehydrogenase. No genome-specific enzyme patterns were identifiable, indicating a probable common origin for the cultivars studied. A system to distinguish 44 cultivars with the aid of phenotypes of the four enzymes is described.