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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4314

R.H. Gavin, W.A. Duffus, and P.C. Contard; Characteristics of Basal Body Cartwheel Reassembly. J.Protozool. 36(4):391-397, 1989

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Cartwheel complexes reassembled in a fraction derived by treating isolated oral apparatuses from Tetrahymena with 1.0M KCl for 12 hr. Approximately 40% of the KCl-soluble protein reassembled into cartwheel complexes. The reassembly reaction was protein-concentration dependent, and reassembled cartwheels were stable at 3 degrees C. Sucrose gradient centrifugation resolved 3 high molecular mass protein complexes from the KCl-soluble fraction. Each of the 3 complexes has a different mass, but each contains the same 5 polypeptides, 2 of which are probably tubulins. When these complexes were removed from the KCl-soluble fraction by high speed centrifugation, cartwheel reassembly did not occur. The 5 polypeptides in this high molecular mass complexes were among several other polypeptides resolved from reassembled cartwheels by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The high molecular mass complexes are probably essential for cartwheel formation. The electrophoretic data also show that several polypeptides in the KCl-soluble fraction do not appear to be incorporated into cartwheels. These polypeptides are probably non-essential for cartwheel formation.