ANBAR JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

Abstract

A three species of clam Unio tigridis, Pseudontopsis euphraticus and Anodonta sp. were collected from Al-Habaniya lake, Al-Anbar/Iraq .The animals were exposed to three concentrations of mercury: 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg / l. First group of animals were exposed for three weeks, second group for two weeks and the third group for one week. At the end of the exposure period, the animals were dissected ,then the gills removed for the further study on proteins and enzymes. The results were :
1- Total protein concentration in the gills decreased at different concentrations. We observed prominent effect of mercury on the electrophoretic bands of proteins with the decrease in the intensity of protein bands or induction of new bands.
2- The activity of the three enzymes : Alkaline phosphatase , GPT and GOT were not stable, increased or decreased in different species at different concentrations of mercury, for example, the activity of alkaline phosphatase increased in second species at the second concentration , the activity of GPT decreased in first species at the first concentration and the activity of GOT decreased in the three species at third concentration of mercury.