[Allozyme variation of nonspecific esterases in Russian sturgeon (Acipenser güldenstädti Brandt]

Electrophoresis in 7% polyacrylamide gel was used to analyze nonspecific esterases from different organs and tissues of Russian sturgeon. The basic enzymatic activity was observed the four zymogram zones. In sixteen cases the patterns of isozyme distribution in these zones allowed to consider them as allele systems (14 polymorphic and 2 monomorphic) corresponding to the four structural genes. The observed genotype frequencies of the nine of these systems (EST-1* of brain and intestine; EST-2* of serum and intestine; EST-3* of spleen and kidney; and EST-4* of spleen, brain, and heart) were largely concordant with Hardy-Weinberg proportions for codominant disomic inheritance. Genetic control of other polymorphic systems is unknown, but, high enzymatic activity of these esterases, sufficient for qualitative electrophretic detection, permits utilization of these polymorphisms for phenotypic monitoring of Russian sturgeon populations.