Geographical Variation in Multiple Lectins of the Acorn Barnacle Megabalanus rosa

Abstract

The multiple lectins in the acorn barnacle Megabalanus rosa collected from Sukumo Bay, Kochi, and Okirai Bay, Iwate, were analyzed for seasonal dynamics, agglutinating activities against animal erythrocytes, and peptide maps. Although there was no recognizable morphological difference between specimens collected from the two localities, heterogeneity in amino acid sequence was observed for the multiple lectins isolated from the barnacles. The present study shows that there is intraspecies genetic variations within M. rosa populations distributed along the Japanese coast.