Physicochemical study of rock crab lipoproteins

Abstract

Physicochemical studies have been carried out on the hemolymph and egg lipoproteins of the rock crab ( Cancer antennarius). Analytical ultracentrifugal analyses of vitellogenic female HDL 3 revealed the presence of two types of lipoproteins. The first with a sedimentation rate of 5.35 S was comparable to lipoproteins in male and non-vitellogenic female hemolymph. The second with a sedimentation rate of 10.74 S was comparable to the major lipoprotein of egg yolk. A similar comparison could be made following electrophoretic analyses in native polyacrylamide gels. Electrophoresis in SDS-polyacrylamide gels revealed three major apolipoproteins common to egg and vitellogenic HDL 3. A fourth apolipoprotein was found in both male and female HDL 3. In contrast to mammalian HDL, none of these crustacean apolipoproteins had a molecular weight less than 82000. One of these apolipoproteins appears to be comparable physicochemically to the enteric form of apolipoprotein B in mammals.