Studies on isoenzyme pattern during differentiation (spherulation) of Physarum polycephalum

Aloys Hüttermann*, Marlies Gebauer, Ilan Chet

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plasmodial homogenates of the true slime mold Physarum polycephalum grown on a liquid medium contain carbohydrates which form a complex with protein under conditions of acrylamide electrophoresis and thus make isoenzyme studies from those extracts impossible. A method, using mild homogenization and centrifugation on top of a 30% sucrose solution was developed. This treatment leaves most of the soluble cytoplasmic enzymes in the upper layer above the sucrose, which then can be used for successful isoenzyme or protein studies with polyacrylamide electrophoresis. The activity changes and isoenzyme pattern of 16 different enzymic activities were studied during differentiation (spherulation) of Physarum polycephalum, induced either by starvation or by mannitol. Only one enzyme, esterase, exhibited a conspicuous change in isoenzyme pattern during development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)113-123
Number of pages11
JournalArchives of Microbiology
Volume120
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1979

Keywords

  • Carbohydrates
  • Differentiation
  • Esterase
  • Isoenzyme Pattern
  • Physarum polyphalum
  • Spherulation
  • Ultracentrifugation

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