Allelic expression in intergeneric fox hybrids (Alopex lagopus x Vulpes vulpes). I. Comparative electrophoretic studies on blood enzymes and proteins in arctic and silver foxes.

Twenty-seven blood enzymes and proteins, whose structures are presumably controlled by at least 33 genes, were assayed in Arctic and silver foxes by starch gel electrophoresis. Two types of protein and enzyme electrophoretic patterns were distinguished: one exhibiting a single enzyme, the other several isozymes. The two fox species were found to differ in seven of the 27 enzymes and proteins studied: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, adenylate kinase, erythrocyte carboxylesterase, diaphorase, prealbumin, transferrin, and albumin. No differences were established between the species for the other enzymes and proteins. The data are interpreted as evidence for the existance of a set of enzymes and proteins differentiating the Arctic from the silver fox.