Gliding Motility, Calcium, and Cohesion in Myxobacteria

钙离子对粘细菌有三种作用。 它们是：（1） 诱导滑行运动系统;（2）诱导 系统的能量依赖的凝聚力;（3）刺激 合成三种特异性多肽。 长期目标是 纯化这些多肽，产生单克隆抗体，并使用这些 抗体来检验这三种多肽是 在功能上涉及运动性和/或凝聚力。 这些抗体将 可以用来克隆基因的遗传方法的问题，因为 直接试剂试图抑制运动或凝聚力，并作为探针 在其他滑行细菌中寻找交叉反应多肽。 目前的赠款将支持启动遗传分析， 柱头菌属，单克隆抗体的生产，以及该单克隆抗体的用途 抗体来亲和纯化蛋白质。 粘细菌是有分化能力的、共有的原核生物， 生命周期包括单细胞，聚合（凝聚力）， 多细胞子实体阶段。 这些现象都不是 在分子或机械水平上理解。 生物 系统，迷人的本身，很可能被证明是一个有用的 研究细胞分化和细胞间相互作用的模型系统 更高的生物。

Calcium ion has three effects on myxobacteria. These are: (1) the induction of a system for gliding motility; (2) the induction of a system for energy-dependent cohesion; and (3) the stimulation of synthesis of three specific polypeptides. The long-range goal is to purify these polypeptides, raise monoclonal antibodies, and use these antibodies to test the hypothesis that the three polypeptides are functionally involved in motility and/or cohesion. The antibodies will be used to clone the genes for genetic approaches to the question, as direct reagents to try to inhibit motility or cohesion, and as probes to search for crossreactive polypeptides in other gliding bacteria. The present grant will support initiation of genetic analysis in Stigmatella, production of monoclonal antibodies, and use of the antibodies to affinity purify the proteins. Myxobacteria are differentiation-competent, communal procaryotes, whose life-cycle includes single-celled, aggregating (cohesive), and multicellular fruiting body stages. None of these phenomena are understood at the molecular or mechanistic level. The biological system, fascinating in its own right, may well prove to be a useful model system for studying differentiation and cell-cell interactions in higher organisms.