Comparison of adult, embryonic, and dystrophic myosin heavy chains from chicken muscle by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and peptide mapping.

Chicken myosin heavy chains from adult fast white muscle fibers (both normal and dystrophic), adult slow red fibers, and embryonic presumptive fast white fibers were compared by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by peptide mapping. The heavy chain of slow red myosin migrated electrophoretically more slowly than the heavy chains of the other myosins and differed markedly from them in its peptide maps. The heavy chain of dystrophic fast white myosin was similar to its normal counterpart by peptide mapping but showed slight differences. The peptide map of the heavy chain of embryonic presumptive fast white myosin had the general features of that of the heavy chain of fast white, not slow red, fibers but contained definite differences from the former. The results are consistent with the existence of a separate gene for the heavy chain of embryonic presumptive fast white myosin.