Purification and identification of a growth factor produced by Paramecium tetraurelia.
We previously reported that the jumyo mutant of a cilate protozoan Paramecium tetraurelia excretes into the medium a factor which promotes its own cell division. Here, the factor was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity through a series of liquid chromatographic procedures. This substance is a protein with a molecular weight of 17,000 which at concentrations of 1 X 10(-9) M (17 ng/ml) or more results in the recovery of the cell division rate of the jumyo mutant to the level of the wild type. The factor is therefore considered to be a growth factor and was named Paramecium growth factor (ParGF). This is the first report of direct proof for the production of a growth factor in an organism other than vertebrates.
Tanabe
H
H
Government Industrial Research Institute, Takamatsu, Japan.
Nishi
N
N
Takagi
Y
Y
Wada
F
F
Akamatsu
I
I
Kaji
K
K
D000818:Animals; D002845:Chromatography; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009154:Mutation; D010247:Paramecium / Q000032:analysis*
D006133:Growth Substances