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Cyclic AMP is one of the intracellular signals during the mating of Chlamydomonas eugametos

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Abstract

Chlamydomonas eugametos gametes of opposite mating type make cell-cell contact via their flagellar surfaces. This contact triggers an increase in the intracellular level of cyclic AMP (cAMP) and several cellular responses which are necessary for cell fusion. Here, we show that wheat-germ agglutinin, which binds to the flagellar surface and induces all mating responses, also increased the intracellular cAMP level. Dibutyryl-cAMP added to non-mating gametes induced flagellar twitching, cell-wall lysis, mating-structure activation, flagellartip activation and an increase in agglutinability. It did not induce agglutinin transport to the flagellar tip (tipping) and may not be the direct cause of flagellar twitching and flagellar-tip activation. In non-illuminated cells, dibutyryl-cAMP was far more effective in evoking mating reactions than in illuminated cells. Light induced a 50% decrease in the cAMP level within 1 min. Adenylate cyclase was found to be associated with cell membranes but only 8% of the total was present in the gamete flagella.

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Abbreviations

db-cAMP:

dibutyryl-cAMP

FTA:

flagellar tip activation

Mab:

monoclonal antibody

mt −/mt+ :

mating-type minus/plus

WGA:

wheat-germ agglutinin

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Author notes

  1. Ron Kooijman

    Present address: Wilhelmina Kinderziekenhuis, Nieuwegracht 137, NL-3512, LK Utrecht, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Cell Biology, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, NL-1098, SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Ron Kooijman, Piet de Wildt, Wies van den Briel, Shu-hui Tan, Alan Musgrav & Herman van den Ende

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  1. Ron Kooijman
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  2. Piet de Wildt
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  4. Shu-hui Tan
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  5. Alan Musgrav
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  6. Herman van den Ende
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Additional information

We gratefully acknowledge the fruitful discussions with Dr. Rainer Gilles of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cologne (FRG), and the advice generously given by Dr. Roel van Driel of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

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Kooijman, R., de Wildt, P., van den Briel, W. et al. Cyclic AMP is one of the intracellular signals during the mating of Chlamydomonas eugametos . Planta 181, 529–537 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00193006

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00193006

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