Abstract
COMPARING protein polymorphisms in 24 species of invertebrates and 22 species of vertebrates, Selander and Kaufman1 observed greater genetic variability on average in the invertebrate than in the vertebrate by three criteria: number of polymorphic loci (25–50% in invertebrates compared with 10–20% in vertebrates); mean heterozygosity per locus per individual (15% compared with 6%); and, average number of alleles per polymorphic locus (three compared with two). I have found that amphioxus, a fish-like protochordate, combining vertebrate characters (such as dorsal neural tube throughout life) and invertebrate characters (such as solenocytic protonephridia) resembles, in its enzyme variability, invertebrates rather than vertebrates.
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MANWELL, C. Enzyme variability in the protochordate amphioxus. Nature 258, 606–608 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258606a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258606a0
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