Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:46:57.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Study of Detergent Pollution By Molecular Methods: Starch Gel Electrophoresis of a Variety of Enzymes and Other Proteins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Clyde Manwell
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory
C. M. Ann Baker
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory

Extract

Tissues from a number of marine species were treated with a variety of solutions, including 1% of the major ‘detergent’ (B.P. 1002) used in attempting to disperse the oil from the ‘Torrey Canyon’ and 1% of each of the three major constituents of B.P. 1002, two of which are non-ionic surfactants.

The extracts were submitted to vertical starch-gel electrophoresis in order to measure both the effect of the detergent in facilitating the breakdown of cellular structure (extractability), and the irreversible effect on activation or inhibition of various enzymes and other proteins.

The proteins studied include a variety of NAD- and NADP-linked dehydrogenases, esterases, blood and nerve haemoglobins, plasma proteins, egg white and yolk proteins, and r-phycoerythrin.

The results confirm the general opinion that detergents increase the extractability of proteins from cells. In particular lipoprotein systems are altered, e.g. ‘fast’ serum lipoprotein in fishes (and other vertebrates). Other effects are also observed, e.g. sole but not turbot haemoglobin is rendered relatively insoluble, probably because the detergent stabilizes haemoglobin binding to other components in the erythrocyte. Certain enzymes, e.g. some esterases and amylases, are activated—a not surprising observation. However, a few enzymes are altered in electrophoretic mobility or in activity in a way that one might not expect, e.g. bass Morone labrax lactate dehydrogenase.

The results indicate that ‘oil-spill’ detergents and their constituent surfactants are biochemically quite powerful agents. It is too early to attempt to correlate in vitro and in vivo observations but there is an indication that starch-gel electrophoresis provides a useful supplement to more conventional methods used in the studies on complex pollution problems.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baker, C. M. A., 1964. Molecular genetics of avian proteins. III. The egg proteins of an isolated population of jungle fowl, Gallus gallus L. Comp. Biochem. Physiol., Vol. 12, pp. 389403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, C. M. A., Manwell, C., Labisky, R. F. & Harper, J. A., 1966. Molecular genetics of avian proteins. V. Egg, blood and tissue proteins of the ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus L. Comp. Biochem. Physiol., Vol. 17, pp. 467–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bardach, J. E., Fujiya, M. & Hull, A., 1965. Detergents: effects on the chemical senses of the fish Ictalurus natalis (Le Sueur). Science, N.Y., Vol. 148, pp. 1605–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, J. B., 1967. Petroleum Microbiology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Egler, F. E., 1964. Pesticides in our ecosystem, II. BioScience (American Institute of Biological Sciences), Vol. 14, pp. 2936.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisler, R., 1965. Some effects of a synthetic detergent on estuarine fishes. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc, Vol. 94, pp. 2631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, N. R., Scheier, A. & Cairns, J., 1966. Effects of ABS on feeding behaviour of flagfish, Jordanella floridae. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc, Vol. 95, pp. 109110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederickson, D. S. & Lees, R. S., 1966. Familial Hyperlipoproteinemia. In The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, 2nd edn., ed. Stanbury, J. B., Wyngaarden, J. B. and Frederickson, D. S., pp. 429–85. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Hidu, H., 1965. Effects of synthetic surfactants on the larvae of clams (M. mercenaria) and oysters (C. virginica). J. Water Pollut. Control Federation, Vol. 37, pp. 262–70.Google Scholar
Jones, J. R. E., 1964. Fish and River Pollution. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Kishimoto, U. & Adelman, W. J. Jr., 1964. Effect of detergent on electrical properties of squid (Loligo pealii) axon membrane. J. gen. Physiol., Vol. 47, pp. 975–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitto, G. B., Wassarman, P. M. & Kaplan, N. O., 1966. Enzymatically active conformers of mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol. 56, pp. 578–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, H., 1965. Effects on the flavour of fishes by oils and phenols. In Pollutions marines par les micro-organismes et les produitspetroliers (Symposium de Monaco: avril, 1964), pp. 371–4. Secretariat general de la Commission, 59, avenue Raymond Poincaré, Paris.Google Scholar
Manwell, C., 1960. Heme-heme interactions in the oxygen equilibrium of some invertebrate myoglobins. Arch. Biochem. Biophys., Vol. 89, pp. 194201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manwell, C., 1963a The blood proteins of cyclostomes: a study in phylogenetic and ontogenetic biochemistry. In The Biology of Myxine (ed. A., Brodal and R., Fange), pp. 372455. Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Manwell, C., 1963b. Genetic control of hemerythrin tissue specificity in a marine worm. Science, N.Y., Vol. 139, pp. 755–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manwell, C., 1964. Chemistry, genetics and functions of invertebrate respiratory pigments—configurational changes and allosteric effects. In Oxygen in the Animal Organism, I.U.B. Symposium Series, Vol. 31 (ed. F., Dickens and E., Neil), pp. 49119. Oxford: Pergamon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manwell, C., 1966. Starch gel electrophoresis of the multiple haemoglobins of small and large larval Chironomus—a developmental haemoglobin sequence in an invertebrate. J. Embryol. exp. Morph., Vol. 16, pp. 259–70.Google Scholar
Manwell, C. & Baker, C. M. A., 1967. Oil and detergent pollution: past, present, politics, and prospects. Journal ofthe Devon Trust for Nature Conservation, (Slapton Ley Field Centre, Kingsbridge, Devon.), Supplement issue, Conservation and the Torrey Canyon (ed K., Watkins and I., Mercer), pp. 3972.Google Scholar
Manwell, C., Baker, C. M. A., Ashton, P. A. & Corner, E. D. S., 1967. Bio-chemical differences between Calanus finmarchicus and C. helogandicus: esterases, malate and triose-phosphate dehydrogenases, aldolase, ‘peptidases’, and other enzymes. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 47, pp. 145–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manwell, C., Baker, C. M. A. & Betz, C. W., 1966. Ontogeny of haemoglobin in the chicken. J. Embryol. exp. Morph., Vol. 16, pp. 6581.Google ScholarPubMed
Manwell, C., Baker, C. M. A. & Childers, W., 1963. The genetics of haemoglobin in hybrids. I. A molecular basis for hybrid vigor. Comp. Biochem. Physiol., Vol. 10, pp. 103–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchetti, R., 1965. Critical review of the effects of synthetic detergents on aquatic life. General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean Studies and Reviews, No. 26. Rome: G.F.C.M. Secretariat, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Google Scholar
North, W. J., Neuschul, M. Jr. & Clendenning, K. A., 1965. Successive biological changes observed in a marine cove exposed to a large spillage of mineral oil. In Pollutions marines par les micro-organismes et les produits petroliers (Symposium de Monaco: Avril, 1964), pp. 335–54. Secretariat general de la Commission, 59, avenue Raymond Poincare, Paris.Google Scholar
ÓHeocha, C. & ÓCarra, P., 1961. Spectral studies of denatured phycoerythrins. J. Am. chem. Soc, Vol. 83, pp. 1091–3.Google Scholar
Ó'sullivan, A. J. & Richardson, A. J., 1967. The ‘Torrey Canyon’ disaster and intertidal marine life. Nature, Lond., Vol. 214, pp. 448, 541–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prat, J. & Giraud, A., 1964. The Pollution of Water by Detergents. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.Google Scholar
Reimann, K., 1962. Die schadlichkeit von Ol- und Teerprodukten für niedere Wasserorganismen. In Ote und Detergentien im Wasser und Abwasser, Muncher Beitrage zur Abwasser, Fischerei- und Flussbiologie, Band 9 (ed. H., Liebmann), pp. 6072. Munich: R. Oldenbourg.Google Scholar
Schultze, H. E. & Heremans, J. F., 1966. Molecular Biology of Human Proteins with Special Reference to Plasma Proteins. Vol. I. Nature and Metabolism of Extracellular Proteins. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Wittenberg, B. A., Briehl, R. W. & Wittenberg, J. B., 1965. Haemoglobins of invertebrate tissues. Biochem. J., Vol. 96, pp. 363–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woodwell, G. M., Wurster, C. F. Jr. & Isaacson, P. A., 1967. D D T residues in an east coast estuary: a case of biological concentration a persistent insecticide. Science, N.Y., Vol. 156, pp. 821–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar