| dc.description.abstract | Cod eggs and larvae, at different stage of development, have
been analyzed by starch gel electrophoresis. Four common enzymes
(phosphoglucose isomerase, phosphoglucose mutase, isocitrate
dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase) were easily demonstrated
both in eggs and larvae. Some of the isozymes present in adult
fish, were expressed in newly fertilized eggs. The others, including
polymorphic forms of particular interest in population
studies, seemed to be activated during the process of hatching,
offering the possibility to perform detailed genetic investigations
at an early stage of cod larval development.
Comparison between the phenotypes of parent fish and the offspring,
was in complete concordance with the hypothesis of. codominant
inheritance of the alleles present. The parent fish
material, however, was scarce.
Several groups of eggs and cod larvae were exposed to different concentrations of the sea water soluble fraction of hydrocarbons
for North Sea crude oil. Unfortunately, only a few
phenotypes were present in the populations. No significant
changes in the genetic compositions of cod larvae were observed
in the exposed populations compared to the controls.
The experiments described, however, suggest a rational approach
for investigating possible effects of pollutants on gene pools
and genetic variability. | en_US |
