A Comparative Study on Total Muscle Protein Content of Anabas testudineus, Labeo gonius, Labeo rohita and Heteropneustes fossilis and to analyze their Electrophoretic Banding Pattern using SDS-PAGE

Life Sciences-Zoology for Better Disease Understanding

Abstract

India is undergoing  nutrition transition  and is facing the dual burden of malnutrition,  problem of under-nutrition  and malnutrition deficiencies.  Fish is one such food that can solve the problem. Fresh fish flesh provides an excellent source of protein for human diet, which is relatively  of digestibility,  biological  and growth promoting  value for human consumption.  The present study is aimed to determine  the total muscle protein content of freshly killed fishes belonging to different species (Anabas testudineus  [E1], Labeo gonius [E2], Labeo rohita [E3] and Heteropneustes  fossilis [E4]) and also to analyze the electrophoretic  banding pattern of muscle protein from the above species through SDS - PAGE gel electrophoresis.  Electrophoresis  can be used to separate and visualize proteins. In SDS -PAGE, proteins are separated based on size. When protein samples are applied to such gels, it is usually necessary to know the protein content or concentration  of the sa mple. The total muscle  protein  estimation  was done by Lowry’s method  using BSA protein  as standard.  The optical densit y was measured  at 660 nm. The results  showed  that  the total protein  concentration  of sample  E1, E2, E3 and E4 was found  to be 8.31±0.314  mg/ml,  7.65±0.333  mg/ml, 6.98±0.315 mg/ml and 8.98±0.483 mg/ml respectively.  The SDS-PAGE  electrophoresis  done in case of different fish species showed variation in the banding patterns,  in which E1 and E4 showed  maximum  number of bands as compared  to E2 and E3. Fishes belonging  to the gro up of catfishes and perches were found to contain more amount of protein as compared  to Indian Major Carps and Minor Carps. Therefore, fishes play a vital role as it is an important and cheaper source of quality animal proteins.