Total and chloroplast proteins of the leaves of cultivated, population and wild sunflower varieties cultivated under thermic stress

Sunflower (Helianthus annus L) cultivation is affected by periods of severe drought that affect the growth and yield of sunflower crops. Wild sunflower species have brought many agronomically important traits to cultivated sunflower by quickly allowing them to undergo biotic and abiotic changes in their environment. Plants have developed several mechanisms that would enable them to tolerate high temperatures related to thermotolerance at the biochemical and metabolic levels. The present study aimed to highlight the variability of total and chloroplast proteins extracted from the wild and populations of sunflower leaves grown under different thermal stresses. The total proteins extracted from controlled and thermic stress leaves, characterized by SDS page were similar except polypeptides of molecular weight (MW) 42 kDa, 35 kDa, 31 kDa and 13.5 kDa which showed variability of sunflower varieties studied. Under thermic stress, the MW of chloroplast proteins was similar in the H petiolaris fallax and H praecox runyonni varieties. The protein markers of wild sunflower species revealed in response to thermal stresses contribute to the improvement of sunflowers in the face of environmental challenges.