The use of isozyme characters in systematic studies

Several classes of isozyme characters are recognized including the number o f genes that control a given enzyme system, intralocus and interlocus heter opolymer assembly, tissue-specific gene expression, developmental patterns of enzyme expression, and post-translational modification of gene products. All of these characters can be of value in systematic studies although few applications have been made to date; some of the more robust examples are recognized. Isozyme characters should be evaluated in terms of both their a dvantages and limitations. The level of universality at which they are used is group-specific. Tissue-specific gene expression data may be of the wide st applicability in systematic studies. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.