Summary
A method involving penicillin treatment was developed to osmotically lyse the cells of the blue-green alga,Microcystis aeruginosa Kuetz. emend. Elenkin, and release the pressure-sensitive gas vacuoles intact. The gas vacuoles were purified by liquid-polymer partitioning or by macromolecular sieving and centrifugation. The degree of purification of the gas vacuoles was followed by observation in the electron microscope and by the use of C14-labeled vacuolated and nonvacuolated strains ofM. aeruginosa. The gas-vacuole membrane is composed of only protein consisting of 10% basic, 18% acidic and 52% non-polar amino acids.
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Supported by U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Contract No. AT(11-1)-1338.
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Jones, D.D., Jost, M. Isolation and chemical characterization of gas-vacuole membranes fromMicrocystis aeruginosa Kuetz. emend. Elenkin. Archiv. Mikrobiol. 70, 43–64 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691059