Polymorphic tetrameric superoxide dismutase in the pike esox lucius L. (pisces; esocidae)

Abstract

1. 1. Heart muscle extracts of northern pike from Lake Malaren in Sweden exhibited two electrophoretic types of superoxide dismutase, one of which was identified as the cytoplasmic enzyme (s-SOD) and the other as the mitochondrial from (m-SOD). 2. 2. Individual analysis of 51 pike indicated that s-SOD was invariant while m-SOD displayed a pattern of variation which was explicable by a single-locus polymorphism. 3. 3. The observed m-SOD phenotype patterns suggested that the enzyme is a tetramer. This interpretation is supported by in vitro molecular hybridization studies.