Our project on the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, received funding in the Fall of 1996 and I am reporting the progress made toward its goals in its fourth quarter.

Progress Outline:

1. Ovarian Yolk Protein Purified: The ovary has yielded a purified Lipovitellin.
2. Antiserum Production Has Commenced: An immunization schedule was implemented.
3. Undergraduate Trainee Funded under Howard Hughes program.
   

1. Ovarian Yolk Protein Purified: Using a combination of fractional heat denaturation, Ammonium Sulfate salting-out and gel-permeation chromatography we have purified the major egg Lipovitellin (Lv) of the cod fish. This utilizes a technique, of fractional heat denaturation, which was discovered in a previous CMER/NOAA project on Winter flounder (Hartling et al., 1997).
2. Antiserum Production Has Commenced: The purified Lv protein was injected into a New Zealand white female rabbit in mid November and a two month immuniztion schedule started. We expect the antiserum to be ready for characterization in mid January.
3. Undergraduate Trainee Funded under Howard Hughes program: Mike Pelak a senior undergraduate biology major has been added to the cod project. He is being trained by Dr. Kunkel and John Bohannon, the Hampshire College graduate who has been doing post graduate training on this project.

Since the purified yolk protein did not get into the rabbit until mid November, we are a bit behind schedule in obtaining an antiserum for analysis of late Fall and Winter Samples. We will proceed to sample cod serum, ovaries and mucous this Winter and hope that their storage will provide satisfactory samples for analysis once the antiserum is available.

Respectfully submitted,

Joseph G. Kunkel

jgk/hs