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Immobilization Antigens

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Paramecium

Abstract

When Rössle (1905) discovered, more than 80 years ago, that homologous antiserum from a rabbit or guinea pig immobilizes and kills Paramecium cells he did not know that large proteins on the surface of paramecia cause this reaction. The proteins became later known as immobilization, i-antigens or surface proteins, and paramecia with specific i-antigens were called serotypes. Today, an explanation for the serotype system must be sought in terms of one of the central problems of modern cell biology, the control of phenotypic expression. Paramecium offers distinct advantages for the study of this problem. The cells exhibit a range of easily distinguishable, alternative types, which are generally mutually exclusive and can be made to change reversibly. Furthermore, biochemical compounds which are important for such studies (proteins, mRNAs and DNAs of structural genes) can be readily isolated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, D-4400, Münster, Germany

    Helmut J. Schmidt

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  1. Helmut J. Schmidt
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Universität Münster, Schloßplatz 5, 4400, Münster, Germany

    Hans-Dieter Görtz

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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Schmidt, H.J. (1988). Immobilization Antigens. In: Görtz, HD. (eds) Paramecium. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73086-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73086-3_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73088-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73086-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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