COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF GLUCOSEPHOSPHATE ISOMERASE, LACTATE-DEHYDROGENASE AND MALATE-DEHYDROGENASE ISOZYMES IN 9 CYPRINID SPECIES FROM ITALY

The developmental and the tissue-specific expression of glucosephospha te isomerase (GPI), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malate dehydrogena se (MDH) multilocus isozymes were analyzed in samples of Leuciscus cep halus and the adult patterns compared with those of 8 additional Itali an cyprinid species: Alburnus alburnus alborella, Chondrostoma genei, L. lucumonis, L. souffia, Rutilus rubilio, R. erythrophthalmus, Scardi nius erythrophthalmus and Tinca tinca, the taxonomic status of many of them being uncertain and highly debated. The spatial and temporal pat terns of expression obtained generally agree with literature data. Mai n exceptions are the single expression of GPI-A and MDH-A* loci of th e liver in L. cephalus and the GPI pattern of the eye in all species e xamined. Since delayed appearence of the subunits coded by the GPI-B locus and the very early ontogenetic expression of the sMDH-B locus w ere found in L. cephalus, the onset of expression of orthologous loci can vary in related species. Genetic structure comparisons support a h igh genetic divergence of T, tinca from all other species.