Alternative developmental pathways and the propensity to migrate: a case study in the Atlantic salmon.

Migratory behaviour with its associated phenotypic changes is generally viewed as an adaptive strategy because it incurs survival or reproductive advantages to migrants. The development of a migrant phenotype is believed to be controlled by threshold mechanisms, where individuals emigrate only after surpassing a particular body size but delay migration if below. For such a strategy to respond to natural selection, part of the phenotypic variance in the propensity to migrate must be explained by variation in additive genetic effects. Here, we use data gathered in the field and from a common rearing experiment to test for a genetic basis associated with seaward migration in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). We document a high heritability of the liability trait underlying the propensity to emigrate in juvenile salmon, and significant differences between offspring grouped according to their sires in body-size threshold values above which emigration takes place. The presence of additive genetic variance in both the liability and thresholds makes the onset of migration a process sensitive to selection and may therefore constitute an important explanatory mechanism for the interpopulation differences in the size at seaward migration observed in this species.

Developmental changes in the pyruvate kinase isozymes of coho salmon.

Pyruvate kinase exists as two major isozymes in coho salmon. As in mammals and birds, one form is present in the early embryo and maintains a wide tissue distribution in adults. This salmonid type K shows anodal migration during electrophoresis at pH 7.5. The appearence of functional musculature in the developing embryos. In adult animals this second form is the only pyruvate kinase in muscle. Brain, kidney, liver and gill contain primarily the type K pyruvate kinase while heart contains both major forms along with three intermediate forms which presumably constitute a hybrid set. Since there is no additional isozyme restricted to gluconeogenic tissues, we conclude that a type L isozyme has not developed in these animals. The two major isozymes are immunologically distincy. Both forms are dubject to fructose 1,6-bisphosphate activation of phosphoenolpyruvate binding, but the magnitude of the effect is small. The affinities for phosphoenolpyruvate are similar, but salmon type K has hyperbolic saturation curves with this substrate and type M has sigmoidal saturation curves. While the immunological data indicates considerable divergence in structure, the kinetic parameters of the two forms have remained relatively similar.