The developmental appearance of hexokinase and alcohol dehydrogenase inXenopus laevis

✍ Scribed by Wesolowski, Mary H. ;Lyerla, Timothy A.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 722 KB
• Volume: 210
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402100203

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The stages of appearance of hexokinase (HK; E.C. 2.7.1.1) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH; E.C. 1.1.1.1) in Xenopus laevis were studied using starch gel electrophoresis. The HK activity detected in this investigation is gut‐specific and appears at metamorphic climax (stage 63: Nieuwkoop and Faber, '67). Kinetic studies from crude homogenates tentatively identify this as a low K~m~ HK type. ADH is first detected in larval stage 47 and is primarily liver‐specific. It is postulated that the observed electromorphic variation can be explained by assuming there are at least three ADH loci in this species, but the products of only two can form heterodimers. These enzyme systems, from their tissue specificities and post‐fertilization stages of appearance, should be useful for studies of gene activation in X. laevis development.