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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 4930

Vagn Leick, Charlotte Goos Iversen, Jesper Dybvad Olesen, and Thorkild C. Bog-Hansen; Concanavalin A and the motile behaviour of the ciliate Tetrahymena. Europ.J.Protistol. 39:390-393, 2003

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Concanavalin A (Con A) is a plant lectin that inhibits the persistent swimming behaviour of Tetrahymena cells by increasing ciliary reversals. Con A also increases ciliary reversals following chemosensory adaptation when it acts as a chemoattractant. The Con A effect is inhibited by mannose suggesting that Con A binds to glycoproteins in cellular membranes. In order to isolate these glycoproteins membrane proteins were fractionated by Con A-Sepharose affinity chromatography. A ciliary membrane protein denoted p66 was purified by two-step affinity chromatography from a whole cell Triton X-100 extract of Tetrahymena thermophila.