[Presence of arrestin (S-antigen)-like proteins in vegetable cells]

Arrestin (or S-antigen) is a protein that regulates phototransduction in photoreceptor cells of the retina. Homologous proteins have been recently detected in other, non-photosensitive, cells of vertebrates, where they are thought to be associated with other systems of signal transduction. Proteins crossreactive with retinal arrestin were detected in soluble cell extracts from Nicotiana tabacum and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by immunoblotting using several antibodies against arrestin. Variations of the immunoreactive protein pattern were associated with the growth cycle of tobacco cells. These observations suggest that analogs of arrestin exist in the vegetal kingdom, where they could be involved in transduction processes.