Abstract
ATTENTION has focused on the protochordate endostyle since the demonstration that certain of its cells could bind iodine1–4. That has been confirmed by ultrastructural studies4–8, while the presence of thyroid hormones and their precursors has been established in endostylar extracts9–10. These findings have been questioned because the blood11 and tunic9,13 can bind large amounts of iodine. Moreover, both iodotyrosines and iodothyronines can be isolated from tunic extracts9,12–15. Harrington has suggested that iodine-binding by the tunic is an invertebrate process associated with the extracellular iodination of inert structural sclero-proteins, whereas endostylar iodination involves intracellular glycoprateins8. Using indirect immunofluorescence16, with rabbit anti-thyroglobulin serum, I have now identified a protein in the endostyle of the ascidian Styela clava that is immunologically identical to mammalian thyroglobulin.
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THORNDYKE, M. Evidence for a ‘mammalian’ thyroglobulin in endostyle of the ascidian Styela clava. Nature 271, 61–62 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271061a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271061a0
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