IDENTIFICATION OF RED SNAPPER (LUTJANUS-CAMPECHANUS) USING ELECTROPHORETIC TECHNIQUES

Isoelectric focusing (IEF), sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis were employed to produce protein profiles for species identification of red snapper and 11 other fish species. Comparing the distinctive patterns of water-soluble sarcoplasmic proteins for each species on IEF and SDS gels, red snapper could be identified. IEF gels of ampholyte mixture of 20% pH 3-10 and 80% pH 4-6.5 resolved better than gels with ampholyte ranging from pH 3-10, 4-6.5, 6-8, or 5-6 for species identification. The 10 and 12.5% SDS-PAGE gels produced more distinctive protein profiles for identification than 7.5 and 15% gels. Thus, these techniques could be applied to identify fish species.