stranded DNA. The reaction was carried out at 37°C for 1 h. The reaction mixture contained 100 ng Bgl II digested VR1020 vector, SAP (0.5 U) and 1 fll lOX SAP buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 10 mM MgCh) in 10 f.!l oftotal reaction volume. The reaction was stopped by inactivating the enzyme at 65°C for 15 min. The digested bmZP1 eDNA was ligated with SAP treated VR1 020 at vector : insert ratio of 1:10 in a 10 fll reaction volume for 16 h at l6°C. The reaction mixture contained 10 ng VR1020 vector, 26 ng bmZPl insert, 1 fll lOX ligase quffer (30 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8, 10 mM MgCh, 10 mM DTT and 1 mM ATP), lfll T4 DNA ligase (20 U) in a total reaction volume of 10 fll. The ligation product was used for transformation of DH5a competent cells as described previously. Transformants were selected on LB plates containing 50 f.!g/ml Kanamycin (Kan). Similarly, the inserts corresponding to dZP3, rG and dZP3-rG fusion were digested with Bgl II restriction enzyme, gel purified and cloned in VR1020 vector, except that the ligation product of dZP3-rG fusion with VR1020 was transformed into JM109 competent cells

The insert corresponding to bmZP1 was released from the pPCR-Script-bmZPl clone by Bgl II restriction and purified on the agarose gel. VR1020 vector was similarly digested and gel purified. To prevent self-ligation, the digested vector was treated with Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase (SAP), which removes 5'-phosphate from the termini of double

MeancellVolume(MCV).Itisexpressedinfentolitres(1fentolitreorflisequivalentto10'151)andcalculatedby thefollowingformula:PCVMCV=.....................x10(fl)RBC8.10.6.2.MCHMeancellhaemoglobin(MCH)=AverageweightofHbinanerythrocyte.Itisexpressedinpicograms(pg)whichisequivalentto10"12g.Itiscalculatedbythefollowingformula:HbMCH=-----------------x10(ppg)RBC

BloodwastakenbyheartpunctureusingMS222astheanaesthetic.Nofishwasusedmorethanonce.

The tannases obtained (at high titres) from selected cultures were evaluated for the following important biochemical properties. 1. pH tolerance and stability 2. Temperature tolerance and stability 3. Organic solvent stability •pH tolerance: pH-tolerance of the selected tannases was examined in the range of 3.0–9.0. Buffers (0.05 M) of different pH (citrate phosphate for pH