Naturally occurring activity variation of an alkaline phosphatase isozyme associated with physiological fitness in an intertidal population of Macoma balthica

We observed variability in the level of an isozyme for the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (AKP, EC 3.1.3.1) in a Macoma balthica population from Hudson Bay. The distribution of "high" and "no" activity AKP-2 variants were different in samples from "high" tide as compared w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology
Main Authors: Singh, Shiva M., Green, Roger H.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1986
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1139/g86-040
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/g86-040
Description
Summary:We observed variability in the level of an isozyme for the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (AKP, EC 3.1.3.1) in a Macoma balthica population from Hudson Bay. The distribution of "high" and "no" activity AKP-2 variants were different in samples from "high" tide as compared with "low" tide areas. Furthermore, the AKP-2 activity level is associated with survival at high temperature (32 °C), but in the "high" tide subpopulation only. Although this striking association between the activity level of an isozyme and an environmental parameter in a natural population is one of the very few in the literature, further studies are required to establish the genetic basis for the level of the enzyme activity and the biochemical basis for this relationship.Key words: isozyme, alkaline phosphatase, natural selection, evolution.