Some fish muscle esterases and their variation in stocks of the herring ( Clupea harengus L.). The nature of esterase variation

Abstract

1. 1. Electrophoretograms of α-naphthyl acetate and α-naphthyl butyrate esterases from white muscle of one-hundred Blackwater, ninety-nine Dunmore and fifty Ballantrae herring contained from two to ten bands of activity, but no single esterase band occurred in every fish. 2. 2. There was no evidence for allelic variation or multiple forms produced by subunit interaction but the relative intensities of bands 1 and 10 indicated that these could be inherited as full dose, half-dose or no dose. 3. 3. Esterase distribution was markedly different in the Dunmore and Blackwater stocks. The Ballantrae stock was intermediate in character. 4. 4. Different properties of the esterases were revealed by selective inhibition with N-ethylmaleimide, parachlormercuribenzoate, phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride and physostigmine salicylate. Neuraminidase altered the electrophoretic mobility of bands 1, 3, 4 and 7. 5. 5. Esterase variation is suggested to result, in part, from the binding of sialic acid residues.