Abstract
THE application of immunological analysis to plant taxonomy has been made practicable by the development of gel-diffusion methods, both by the Elek-Ouchterlony technique1 and by the more recent immuno-electrophoretic technique of Grabar and Williams2. By these means the individual proteins in plant extracts may be differentiated and the extracts compared component by component with those from related species. We have applied a modification of these general methods to the investigation of the genus Solanum, with particular reference to the interrelationships of certain Mexican species of potato, and the comparison of these with S. tuberosum, the domestic potato.
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Elek, S. D., M.D. thesis, Univ. London (1948); Brit. Med. J., i, 493 (1948). Ouchterlony, O., Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand., 25, 186 (1948).
Grabar, P., and Williams, C. A., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 17, 67 (1955).
Freund, J., and Bonanto, M. V., J. Immunol., 48, 325 (1944).
Hawkes, J. G., in Kappert, H., and Rudorf, W., “Handbuch der Pflanzenzüchtung”, 2nd edit., 3, Chap. 1, Potatoes (Paul Parey, Berlin) (in the press).
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GELL, P., WRIGHT, S. & HAWKES, J. Immunological Methods in Plant Taxonomy. Nature 177, 573 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/177573a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/177573a0
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