SDS-Page Protein Profiling of a Few Commonly Consumed Beans

Beans are widely used to make delicacies and they are mainly comprised of protein. In this study, we compared the protein content of 7 types of commonly consumed beans, namely namely Arachis hypogaea (peanut), Hoedeum vulgare (barley), Vigna radiata (green bean), Vigna angularis (red bean), splits seeds of Pisum Sativum (golden gram) and Phaseolus vulgaris (black turtle beans). Each of the beans were ground into powder form and tris buffer was used to extract the proteins. Similar quantity of the beans’ protein were respectively separated by SDS-PAGE. We found that black turtle beans contained the highest amount of protein, while golden gram has the highest variation of protein types. Barley was found to contain the least quantity of protein and protein types. The difference in protein profile of each of the beans indicate that although each of the beans are rich in protein, their nutritional value may not be the same and each has its own unique value to human health.

Keywords: SDS-PAGE, beans, protein profiling.