An Immunoelectrophoretic Comparison of Three Species of Coffea

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Seed proteins from 3 Coffea spp. were compared using immunoelectrophoretic [IE] procedures. Precipitin bands (9) appeared when 2-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis (IE) was used with C. canephora antigen and antiserum, but only 6 bands appeared in conventional IE. Of these 9 bands, C. arabica shared 8 and C. robusta 6. One band of C. canephora was unique. Quantitative studies with rocket IE showed that C. canephora had very high serological correspondence with C. arabica but C. robusta is 30% lower. The 3 major rocket patterns are believed to be bands II, V and VI on the 2-dimensional IE plate, and their measurement was representative of the degree of total protein similarities among the species. These results provide a basis for additional taxonomic investigations of Coffea.