The Bound Nucleotides of Freshly Frozen and Severely Denatured Frozen Lingcod Muscle

The bound nucleotides of lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) muscle have been examined in relation to the denaturation of muscle proteins during frozen storage. No difference between the quantity of adenine nucleotides (principally adenosine diphosphate) bound in washed muscle residues from freshly frozen (pre-rigor) and in those from muscle severely denatured during frozen storage could be detected. Somewhat more adenosine triphosphate was found bound in crude actin extracts prepared from undenatured frozen muscle than in similar extracts from denatured frozen muscle. Heating lingcod muscle resulted in almost complete release of bound nucleotide.