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A sensitive and efficient isoenzyme technique for small arthropods and other invertebrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Simon Easteal
Affiliation:
Department of Population Biology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Ian A. Boussy
Affiliation:
Department of Population Biology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia

Abstract

An electrophoretic method for the study of enzyme variation, which uses cellulose acetate sheets with an agar overlay for staining, the use of a very good general purpose buffer (citric-aminopropyldiethanol amine) and the use of sodium azide as a bacteriocide to allow long term storage of chemicals as solutions are described. Tests are reported of the technique on Tetranychus urticae Koch, Aedes aegypti (L.) and several species of Drosophila. The results demonstrate that the technique offers sensitivity equal to or greater than starch or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and that it is applicable to very small organisms, allowing either the testing of single individuals for large numbers of enzymes or the testing of fewer enzymes under different electrophoretic conditions (i.e. to detect cryptic variation under a single condition). The technique is efficient of time and materials, and safer than conventional methods.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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