Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Allelic esterase isozymes, their variation with season, position on the shore and stage of development in the cirripede Balanus balanoides

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Samples of Balanus balanoides (L.) in the Menai Straits were taken from their upper limit of distribution on the shore, from mean low water (MLW) and at three different times of the year, January, May and August. Individual prosomae were homogenised, electrophoresed on polyacrylamide gels and esterase isozymes determined. Group BbEI esterase isozymes fitted the Hardy-Weinberg predicted values for 4 co-dominant alleles in all samples. A comparison of BbEI phenotype frequency distribution of the upper shore and MLW samples showed no significant difference at the 5% level. The phenotype frequency of samples taken at different times of the year were significantly different at the 5% level, due to an excess of allele A in winter and an excess of allele C in summer. It is argued that the seasonal variation of phenotype frequency is probably not due to selection operating on a balanced polymorphism, but that the expression of the alleles through the synthesis of esterase isozymes is dependent on some environmental agent, postibly temperature or day length.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Akroyd, P.: Vertical flat-bed gel electrophoresis. In: Chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques. Vol. 2. Zone electrophoresis, pp 458–474. Ed. by I. Smith. London: William Heineman Medical Books 1967

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, J. and P.W. Hochachka: Functional significance of isoenzymes in thermal acclimation: acetylcholinesterase from trout brain. Biochem. J. 116, 883–887 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, H.: Light, temperature and the breeding of Balanus balanoides. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 43, 717–725 (1963)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and J. Blackstock: Seasonal changes in the activity of certain enzymes in crude tissue extracts of two common cirripedes, Balanus balanoides (L.) and B. balanus (L.). J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 19, 81–96 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and D.J. Crisp: Evidence of self-fertilisation in certain species of barnacles. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 35, 631–639 (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Crisp, D.J.: Breeding and distribution in Chthamalus stellatus. Nature, Lond. 116, p. 311 (1950)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The breeding of Balanus porcatus (Da Costa) in the Irish Sea. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 33, 473–494 (1954)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The spread of Elminius modestus Darwin in north-west Europe. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 37, 483–520 (1958)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and B.S. Patel: The moulting cycle in Balanus balanoides (L.). Biol. Bull. mar. biol. Lab., Woods Hole 118, 31–47 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • ——: Environmental control of the breeding of three boreo-arctic cirripedes. Mar. Biol, 2, 283–295 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and D.A. Ritz: Changes in temperature tolerance of Balanus balanoides during its life-cycle. Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 15, 98–115 (1967a)

    Google Scholar 

  • ——: Temperature acclimation in barnacles. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 1, 236–256 (1967b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekberg, D.R.: Anaerobic and aerobic metabolism in gills of crucian carp adapted to high and low temperatures. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 5, 123–128 (1962)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer-Piette, E. et M. Prenant: Distribution des cirripèdes intercotidaux d'Espagne septentrionale. Bull. Cent. Étud. Rech. scient. Biarritz 1, 7–19 (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Flowerdew, M.W. and D.J. Crisp: Esterase heterogeneity and an investigation into racial differences in the cirripede Balanus balanoides using acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Mar. Biol. 33, 33–39 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, B.A.: On the determinants of the upper limits of intertidal distribution of barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia). J. Anim. Ecol. 40, 33–48 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Comori, G.: Human esterases. J. Lab. clin. Med. 42, 445–453 (1953)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazel, J.R. and C.L. Prosser: Molecular mechanisms of temperature compensation in poikilotherms. Physiol. Rev. 54, 620–677 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebb, C., D. Morris and M.W. Smith: Choline acetyltransferase activity in the brain of goldfish acclimated to different temperatures. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 28, 29–36 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hochachka, P.W.: Isozymes in metabolic adaptation of a poikilotherm: subunit relationship in lactate dehydrogenases of goldfish. Archs Biochem. Biophys. 111, 96–103 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Organization of metabolism during temperature compensation. In: Molecular mechanisms in temperature adaptation, pp 177–203. Ed. by C.L. Prosser. Washington D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science 1967. (Publs Am. Ass. Advmt Sci. No. 84)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and B. Clayton-Hochachka: Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and thermal acclimation in the mullet fish. Mar. Biol. 18, 251–259 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and J.K. Lewis: Enzyme variants in thermal acclimation: trout liver citrate synthases. J. biol. Chem. 245, 6567–6573 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • — and G.N. Somero: The adaptation of enzymes to temperature. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 27, 659–668 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • ——: Strategies of biochemical adaptation, 358 pp. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders 1973

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchins, L.W.: The bases for temperature zonation in geographical distribution. Ecol. Monogr. 17, 325–335 (1947)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowsky, H.D.: Versuche zur Adaptation der Fische in normalen Temperaturbereich. Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 18, 317–362 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M.S.: Adaptive lactate dehydrogenase variation in the crested blenny Anoplarchus. Heredity, Lond. 27, 205–226 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Künnemann, H.: Der Einfluß der Temperatur auf Thermostabilität, Isoenzym-Muster und Reaktionskinetik der Laktat-Dehydrogenase aus Fischen. Mar. Biol. 18, 37–45 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon, T.W. and P.W. Hochachka: Temperature and enzyme activity in poikilotherms: IDH's in rainbow trout liver. Biochem. J. 123, 695–705 (1971a)

    Google Scholar 

  • ——: Effect of thermal acclimation in multiple forms of liver soluble, NADP+-linked IDH in the family Salmonidae. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 40 (B), 207–213 (1971b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, H.B.: The biology of Balanus balanoides. I. Growth rate and its relation to size, season and tidal level. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 19, 851–863 (1934)

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, G.H.: Balanus balanoides (L.) (Cirripedia). Life cycle and growth in Greenland. Meddr Grønland 159, 1–116 (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritz, D.A. and D.J. Crisp: Seasonal changes in feeding rate in Balanus balanoides. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 50, 223–240 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • Somero, G.N.: Enzymic mechanisms of temperature compensation: immediate and evolutionary effects of temperature on enzymes of aquatic poikilotherms. Am. Nat. 103, 517–530 (1969a)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: Pyruvate kinase variants of the Alaskan king-crab. Biochem. J. 114, 237–241 (1969b)

    Google Scholar 

  • —: The roles of isozymes in adaptation to varying temperature. In: Isozymes. Vol. 2. Physiological function, pp 221–234. Ed. by C.L. Markert. New York: Academic Press 1975

    Google Scholar 

  • — and P.W. Hochachka: Isozymes and short-term temperature compensation in poikilotherms: activation of LDH isozymes by temperature decrease. Nature, Lond. 223, 194–195 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • ——: Biochemical adaptation to the environment. Am. Zool. 11, 159–167 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Southward, A.J.: A note on the temperature tolerance of some intertidal animals in relation to environmental temperatures and geographical distribution. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 37, 49–66 (1958)

    Google Scholar 

  • Walley, L.J.: The cirral glands: a new type of epidermal gland in cirripedes. Crustaceana 12, 151–158 (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells, H.W., M.J. Wells and I.E. Gray: On the southern limits of Balanus balanoides (L.) in the Western Atlantic. Ecology 41, 578–580 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore, D.H. and E. Goldberg: Trout intestinal alkaline phosphatases. II. The effect of temperature upon enzymic activity in vitro and in vivo. J. exp. Zool. 182, 59–68 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, F.R., M.J. Champion, G.S. Whitt and C.L. Prosser: Isozyme patterns in tissues of temperature-acclimated fish. In: Isozymes. Vol. 2. Physiological function, pp 193–206. Ed. C.L. Markert. New York: Academic Press 1975

    Google Scholar 

  • —, G.S. Whitt and C.L. Prosser: Lactate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase isozyme patterns in tissues of temperature acclimated golfish (Carassius auratus L.). Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 46B, 105–117 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Science Laboratories, University College of North Wales, Menal Bridge, Gwynedd, North Wales, UK

    M. W. Flowerdew & D. J. Crisp

Authors
  1. M. W. Flowerdew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. J. Crisp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by J.H.S. Blaxter, Oban

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Flowerdew, M.W., Crisp, D.J. Allelic esterase isozymes, their variation with season, position on the shore and stage of development in the cirripede Balanus balanoides . Mar. Biol. 35, 319–325 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386642

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386642

Keywords

Search

Navigation