The autocrine mitogenic loop of the ciliate Euplotes raikovi: the pheromone membrane-bound forms are the cell binding sites and potential signaling receptors of soluble pheromones.

ABSTRACT: Homologous proteins, denoted pheromones, promote cell mitotic proliferation and mating pair formation in the ciliate Euplotes raikovi, according to whether they bind to cells in an autocrine- or paracrine-like manner. The primary transcripts of the genes encoding these proteins undergo alternate splicing, which generates at least two distinct mRNAs. One is specific for the soluble pheromone, the other for a pheromone isoform that remains anchored to the cell surface as a type II protein, whose extracellular C-terminal region is structurally equivalent to the secreted form. The 15-kDa membrane-bound isoform of pheromone Er-1, denoted Er-1mem and synthesized by the same E. raikovi cells that secrete Er-1, has been purified from cell membranes by affinity chromatography prepared with matrix-b

SUBMITTER: Ortenzi C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC14858 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature