A Comparative Study on Total Muscle Protein Content of Anabas testudineus, Labeo gonius, Labeo rohita and Heteropneustes fossilis and to analyze their Electrophoretic Banding Pattern using SDS-PAGE

Abstract

India is undergoing nutrition transition and is facing the dual burden of malnutrition, problem of under-nutrition and malnutrition deficiencies. Fish is one such food that can solve the problem. Fresh fish flesh provides an excellent source of protein for human diet, which is relatively of digestibility, biological and growth promoting value for human consumption. The present study is aimed to determine the total muscle protein content of freshly killed fishes belonging to different species (Anabas testudineus [E1], Labeo gonius [E2], Labeo rohita [E3] and Heteropneustes fossilis [E4]) and also to analyze the electrophoretic banding pattern of muscle protein from the above species through SDS - PAGE gel electrophoresis. Electrophoresis can be used to separate and visualize proteins. In SDS -PAGE, proteins are separated based on size. When protein samples are applied to such gels, it is usually necessary to know the protein content or concentration of the sa mple. The total muscle protein estimation was done by Lowry’s method using BSA protein as standard. The optical densit y was measured at 660 nm. The results showed that the total protein concentration of sample E1, E2, E3 and E4 was found to be 8.31±0.314 mg/ml, 7.65±0.333 mg/ml, 6.98±0.315 mg/ml and 8.98±0.483 mg/ml respectively. The SDS-PAGE electrophoresis done in case of different fish species showed variation in the banding patterns, in which E1 and E4 showed maximum number of bands as compared to E2 and E3. Fishes belonging to the gro up of catfishes and perches were found to contain more amount of protein as compared to Indian Major Carps and Minor Carps. Therefore, fishes play a vital role as it is an important and cheaper source of quality animal proteins.