Studies on the Salamander Genus Desmognathus: Variation of Lactate Dehydrogenase
Hinderstein B. 1971. Studies on the Salamander Genus Desmognathus: Variation of Lactate Dehydrogenase. Copeia. (4):636-644
Starch gel electrophoresis was used to study variation of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in samples of Desmognathus from the southern Appalachians. For comparison within the subfamily Desmognathinae, a specimen each of Leurognathus and Phaeognathus were studied. Migration and spacing of LDH isozymes were found to be species specific. Several species shared similar electrophoretic patterns and these are tentatively placed in species groups. Group I: D. ochrophaeus, D. monticola, D. fuscus. Within this group, species shared several variant isozymes although over the whole range one or more different variants were common to each species. Group II: D. quadramaculatus, L. marmoratus. D. quadramaculatus yielded two distinct variants, one north of the French Broad River, the other south. The specimen of Leurognathus (from Virginia) had an LDH pattern identical to northern D. quadramaculatus. Group III: D. wrighti, D. aeneus. No variation was found in two D. wrighti samples. D. aeneus may be similar. Phaeognathus LDH differed from all other species. There was no direct evidence of LDH heterozygotes in any sample despite heterogeneity within and between samples. Indirect evidence suggested that one allele of each of the two LDH genes may be turned off in Desmognathus.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Hinderstein, Barry
- Units
- BLRI , GRSM
- Keywords
- Amphibians, APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, BLRI, Blue Ridge Parkway, Desmognathus, dusky salamanders, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GRSM, GRSM-01726, Isozymes, lactate dehydrogenase, Salamanders, SER, Southeast Region, species groups