LINKAGE ANALYSIS OF THE MULTILOCUS GLUCOSEPHOSPHATE ISOMERASE ISOZYME SYSTEM IN SUNFISH (CENTRARCHIDAE, TELEOSTII)

The purpose of the present investigation is to determine whether the two duplicated glucosephosphate isomerase (EC 5.3.1.9) loci Gpi-A and Gpi-B reside on the same chromosome in teleostean fishes. Interspecific sunfish hybrids were employed for the cross because of the different species-specific electrophoretic mobilities of the allelic isozymes at each GPI locus and because of their genomic compatibility. F1 sunfish hybrids, formed from a male warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) × female green sunfish (L. cyanellus) cross, were mated to form the F2 generation. The number of each of the nine different isozyme phenotypes, revealed by starch gel electrophoresis, was determined using 256 F2 individuals. The high frequency of recombinant phenotypes in the F2 generation indicated that the two GPI loci are not linked. An excess of F2 individuals heterozygous at both loci was observed and is interpreted as being caused by heterosis. The absence of linkage for the homologous loci encoding GPI subunits and for other multilocus isozyme systems is consistent with the postulate that the genomes of present-day vertebrates arose through one or more polyploidization events early in vertebrate evolution.