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Published on: January 31, 2020
Chemokinesis by tetrahymena in response to bacterial oligopeptides
1Department B, Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Genetics, The University of Copenhagen, The Panum Institute, Blegdamsvej 3C, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark. vagn@leick.dk
Abstract:
The ciliate Tetrahymena responds very efficiently by chemoattraction to a group of trichloroacetic acid-soluble oligopeptides isolated from a commercial bioprotein from Methanococcus. When fractionated by reversed phase C18-high-pressure liquid chromatography, this group of very efficient chemoattractants turned out to consist of a heterogeneous group of oligopeptides with molecular weight ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 kDa. The peptides were very rich in the following amino acids: aspartic acid, alanine, glutamic acid, proline, glycine, lysine, and arginine. The term chemokinesis is used throughout to emphasise that chemoattraction does not necessarily include an element of orientation of cells.
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