Archives of Microbiology

, Volume 126, Issue 1, pp 77–81 | Cite as

Sex-specific glycoproteins in Chlamydomonas flagella an immunological study

  • Peter F. Lens
  • Wies van den Briel
  • Alan Musgrave
  • Herman van den Ende
Article
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Abstract

To identify mating type-specific glycoproteins associated with the flagellar membrane of Chlamydomonas eugametos, which could be involved in sexual agglutination, antibodies were raised in rabbits against purified gamete flagella of either mating type. The immunoglobulin (Ig) fractions exhibited partial mating-type specificity in agglutinating gametes, in the indirect immunofluorescence test and in the crossed immunoelectrophoresis test. This specificity was strongly enhanced by absorbing the fractions with flagella of the opposite mating type. Absorbed Ig fractions produced a single precipitation line with Triton extracts of gamete flagella in the crossed immunoelectrophoresis technique. On polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis this line appeared to contain two flagellar glycoprotein fractions, PAS 1 and PAS 4. Polyacrylamide gels of flagellar extracts incubated with these Ig fractions, followed by staining with peroxidase-anti-rabbit Ig resulted in the staining of only the PAS 1 and PAS 4 bands, which confirms that these components of the flagellar membrane are mating type-specific antigens.

Key words

Chlamydomonas Sex Flagella Agglutination Glycoproteins Immunochemistry 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1980

Authors and Affiliations

  • Peter F. Lens
    • 1
  • Wies van den Briel
    • 1
  • Alan Musgrave
    • 1
  • Herman van den Ende
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Plant PhysiologyUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamThe Netherlands

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