Interpretation of triose phosphate isomerase isozymes in the cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.).

Detailed interpretation of triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) isozymes in seed plants has been restricted to only a few species. Three sets of TPI bands are regularly observed in the cherimoya (Annona cherimola), a primitive angiosperm. The slowest, set I, is expressed as one or three bands; the second-slowest set II, as one or two bands; and the fastest, set IV, as one or three bands. A faint set III, just cathodal to set IV, is detected rarely with overstaining. Set IV bands are expressed in macerated extracted pollen but not in pollen leachate. Dissociation-reassociation experiments reveal that the set II bands are heterodimers involving, in part, the enzymes involved in the set I bands. These data combined with those from full-sib progeny analysis lead us to propose a three-locus model to explain the TPI isozyme banding patterns in cherimoya. Sets I and IV consist of the allelic products of individual, single loci. Sets I and II occur in the cytoplasm. Set IV occurs in organelles. Set II isozymes are the intergenic heterodimers of the locus coding for set I and the locus coding for set III. Our results reported here are contrasted with the TPI isozyme patterns known for other vascular plants and suggest that the locus coding for set III may be a duplication of very ancient origin.