Euglena gracilis, A Test Organism for Study of Zinc.
Euglena gracilis, A Test Organism for Study of Zinc.
复制标题
眼虫，一种用于研究锌的测试生物。
作者：
C. Price;B. Vallée
Valuable information on the function of metals has been gained from studying metal deficiency states in a variety of organisms (8, 20). But our knowledge of the action of zinc in intact cells has not kept pace with the great strides made in the enzymology of zinc (20). This slow advance is due largely to methodological difficulties: organisms that have been used most frequently for enzymological studies are in general not suitable for trace metal studies. Conversely, studies on the nutrition and absorption of zinc and on the pathology of zinc deficiency have been conducted with organisms that have not usually lent themselves readily to biochemical studies (cf. 3). In order to study zinc in vivo and in vitro with a single species, we have sought an organism in which A, the metal content could be rigorously controlled and B, which could be quantitatively disrupted, yielding a wide spectrum of highly active enzymes. Euglenca gracilis apparently possesses these characteristics. The present report documents the induction of a defined and controlled zinc deficiency in this alga.
