Nuclear Differentiation in Paramecium caudatum: Analysis by the Monoclonal Antibody against a Micronuclear Antigen: (conjugation/micronuclear antigen/monoclonal antibody/nuclear differentiation/Paramecium caudatum).

Abstract

I obtained the monoclonal antibody 93A against a micronuclear antigen of the ciliate Paramecium caudatum. Immunocytochemical observations showed that the antigen 93A appeared in some portion of the micronucleus in every stage of life cycle. In dividing micronuclei, the antigen appeared mainly in their both poles and in fibrous structures between the poles. These results suggest that the micronuclear antigen 93A may be a component of microtubule organizing center and spindles. During nuclear differentiation in P. caudatum, four among eight postzygotic micronuclei differentiate new macronuclear anlagen and one becomes a new micronucleus and the remaining three degenerate. The micronuclear antigen 93A appeared in all of the eight nuclei in the early stage of macronuclear differentiation but then disappeared in the four macronuclear anlagen and eventually persisted only in the new micronucleus, showing that the newly developing macronuclear anlagen lose the micronuclear antigen 93A during their differentiation.