A novel two-dimensional polyacrylamide-gel pattern, which may be due to allelic genes, of phenylalanine hydroxylase in monkeys.

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of immunopurified monkey liver phenylalanine hydroxylase showed a novel form of the enzyme, in 4 out of 24 monkeys, in which each polypeptide spot was split into a doublet with the same charge but slightly different mobility in the sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel-electrophoresis (as opposed to the isoelectric-focusing) dimension. Phenylalanine hydroxylase formed by translation of RNA from a liver containing the novel form showed the doublet pattern, suggesting that it is due to differences in mRNA. By analogy with the rat, this mRNA difference could be due to allelic genes.