Evidence that genes at two loci code for lactate dehydrogenase subunit B in Nycticebus coucang

Lactate dehydrogenase subunits B and A are produced by genes at separate loci. LDH-1, the most anodal of the five isozymes observed after gel electrophoresis, is composed of four B subunits. It has recently been shown that the LDH-1s of most primates are electrophoretically the same. N. coucang (slow loris) is one of the exceptions, possessing an LDH-1 which migrates more slowly than that common to most other primates. We have observed in some members of N. coucang a band at the site of the common primate LDH-1 in addition to the LDH-1 normally present. Since one of the animals in which this observation was made was heterozygous at the LDH B locus, we concluded that in N. coucang two gene loci coding for the B polypeptide are probably present.This investigation was supported in part by contract AF 29 (600)-5587 and NSF grant GB-7426.