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Paramecium pp 85–96Cite as

Mating-Type Substances

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Abstract

Conjugation in Paramecium is initiated by a highly specific cell-cell recognition and adhesion event referred to as the mating reaction (Sonneborn 1937). The term “mating-type substances” was first introduced by Metz (1946, 1948, 1954) to define substances or molecular configurations on the cell surface that mediate the mating reaction. Even after 50 years of research on mating problems in Paramecium, there is still no convincing evidence that substances secreted from cells are involved in the mating reaction. This fact strongly confirms the supposition that sexual interactions of Paramecium are strictly cell surface events between complementary mating-type substances, although the existence of the latter still remains hypothetical. Thus, the mating reaction provides a simple and excellent system for studies on membrane-membrane interactions in general.

Deceased on January 1987.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Institute, Tohoku University, Aoba-yama, Sendai, 980, Japan

    Akio Kitamura

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  1. Akio Kitamura
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Universität Münster, Schloßplatz 5, 4400, Münster, Germany

    Hans-Dieter Görtz

Additional information

The author wishes to dedicate this work to Dr. Charles B. Metz, a great pioneer of the studies on the mating-type substances in Paramecium

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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kitamura, A. (1988). Mating-Type Substances. In: Görtz, HD. (eds) Paramecium. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73086-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73086-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73088-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73086-3

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