Proteins reacting with anti-spectrin antibodies are present in Chlamydomonas cells

It was found either in Western-blot analysis or in indirect immunofluorescence microscopy that cells of the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardhi contain polypeptides cross-reacting with antibodies directed against red blood cell spectrin. The protein could also be detected by immunoprecipitation with anti-spectrin antibodies. C. reinhardtii cells contain distinct polypeptide chains reacting with antibodies directed against either alpha- or beta-spectrin subunits. This protein was extracted from the cells with low ionic strength solution but was not with nonionic detergent.