Open AccessSexual agglutination in Chlamydomonas eugametos is mediated by a single pair of hydroxyproline‐rich glycoproteins
Author(s) -
Versluis Marinus,
Schuring Frans,
Klis Frans M.,
Egmond Piet,
Ende Herman
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1992.tb05447.x
Subject(s) - glycoprotein , chlamydomonas , agglutination (biology) , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , hydroxyproline , biochemistry , immunology , antibody , gene , mutant
The sexual mating reaction between gametes of the green alga Chlamydomonas eugametos starts by cell‐cell contacts involving sex‐specific cell‐adhesion molecules (agglutinins) at the flagellar membrane. An in vitro adhesion assay is described using glutaraldehyde‐fixed gametes. In vitro adhesion was fully comparable to in vivo adhesion, making it a reliable assay to study the initial recognition step of sexual adhesion in vivo. It was shown that both agglutinins are capable of inhibiting sexual adhesion at similar concentrations (1−2×10 −10 M), indicating that mt + and mt − agglutinins interact with each other during binding. This was confirmed by demonstrating that charcoal particles adsorbed with purified agglutinins of the opposite mating type aggregate with each other.