Inherited thermostability variants of seven enzymes in a Japanese population.

The frequency of inherited variations in thermostability was investigated in a series of seven enzymes in a Japanese population. Among a total of 5930 determinations, nine variants were encountered. In each instance one parent exhibited a similar finding. It is suggested that this procedure should detect a high proportion of the variants of these enzymes characterized by amino acid substitutions not altering molecular charge. Failure to detect more such thermostability variants is interpreted to mean that electrophoresis not only detects amino acid substitutions altering molecular charge but also a considerable proportion of those that do not alter charge.