Abstract
EVEN though much is known about biopolymer synthesis and secretion, little or nothing is known about the exact identity of counterions bound to charged biopolymers inside cells. This may be very important since bound ions can influence polymer size and shape and so may hold answers to questions about polymer packaging in cells. In this paper we demonstrate how X-ray microprobe analysis of frozen mucus cells, from a marine snail, has enabled us to show that a sulphated mucopolysaccharide only binds potassium inside the cell but releases this to bind magnesium and calcium after secretion. This is of particular interest because, of all the common physiological cations, only potassium precipitates this mucopolysaccharide in vitro. The implication is that potassium could cause the polymer to adopt a more compact form within the cell.
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