Abstract
The activity levels of alcohol dehydrogenase and α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase were compared among nine species of Drosophila representing three phylogenetic groups. For any given life stage, interspecific variability in activity level was much greater for ADH than for α-GPDH. Patterns of ontogenetic expression of enzyme activity were also much more variable among species for ADH than for α-GPDH. These results are consistent with the interpretation that α-GPDH is involved with a relatively uniform adaptive function among species, whereas ADH levels may reflect variable adaptive capabilities. There is a significant correlation between ADH activities and survivorship on alcohol-treated media for these nine species.
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This research was supported by Contract AT(04-3)-34 200 with ERDA. The authors are supported by an NIH training grant in genetics.
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McDonald, J.F., Avise, J.C. Evidence for the adaptive significance of enzyme activity levels: Interspecific variation in α-GPDH and ADH in Drosophila . Biochem Genet 14, 347–355 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00484773
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00484773