POLYMORPHIC TETRAMERIC SUPEROXIDE-DISMUTASE IN THE PIKE ESOX-LUCIUS L (PISCES, ESOCIDAE)

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. © 1979.