Isozymic studies on selected species of Pteris from India Regular Paper M.Johnson 2 *, V.Irudaya Raj 2 , S.D.Rajkumar 1 1 Department of Botany, St. Andrew s College, Gorakhpur - 273 001, UP, (INDIA) 2 Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, St. Xavier s College (Autonomous), Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, (INDIA) E-mail : ptcjohnson@gmail.com Received: 10 th December, 2009 ; Accepted: 20 th December, 2009 KEYWORDS Isozymes; Iso-peroxidases; Pteis argyraea; Pteris otaria; Pteris vitata; Pteris biaurita; Pteris confuse. ABSTRACT The present study was aimed to illustrate the isoperoxidase banding profile for some species of Pteris from India. The standard technique of vertical poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis was employed to demonstrate the band- ing profile and the gels were stained for isoperoxidase enzyme system. In this enzyme system, a total of thirty eight bands were scored in thirty one different positions with eight active zones. The present study revealed the biochemical positions of the Pteris complex. The similarity index and varia- tions between these five species are reported with reference to isoperoxidase profiles.  2010 Trade Science Inc. - INDIA INTRODUCTION Ferns and fern allies, collectively called Pterido- phytes, are the first successful group of land plants with- out flowers and seeds. India is one of the important megabiodiversity countries with the presence of about 1200 species of Pteridophytes which are growing on the high altitude mountains like the Western Ghats and Himalayas. Pteris is a highly evolved tropical fern ge- nus with the presence of several species complexes like Pteris quadriaurita, P. cretica and P. vittata with several morphotypes and cytotypes. Walker [1] has ob- served introgression resulting in the formation of hybrid swarm in nature. Majority of the species are sexual dip- loids or tetraploids and some species are diploid or triploid apogamous. With the chance for easy hybrid- ization, several morphotypes and cytotpyes occur in nature. Ferns in general, Pteris species in particular, play an important role in phytoremediation throughout the world. The Chinese Brake fern Pteris vittata have been studied extensively for its potentiality in hyperaccumulation of Arsenic [2] . In a recent study the spores of related species Pteris confusa T. G. Walker and P. argyraea T. Moore shows reverse response in heavy metal tolerance during germination [3] . There are 15 species of Pteris in south India [4] . General taxo- nomical, cytological and phytochemical studies on south Indian Pteris have been done [4-6] and the results show the high degree of morphological, cytological and chemi- cal diversity of south Indian species of Pteris. Isozyme analysis reveals the systematic positions of several taxa with inexpensive technique [7,8] . In 1960s, biochemical methods based on seed, leaves protein or enzyme elec- trophoresis were introduced, which proved particularly useful in analysis of genetic diversity as they reveal differ- ences between seed storage protein encoded by different BCAIJ, 4(1), 2010 [54-57] An Indian Journal Trade Science Inc. Volume 4 Issue 1 April 2010 BioCHEMISTRY BioCHEMISTRY ISSN : 0974 - 7427