title: Age-related total protein content of parental cells and total protein content of their exconjugant progeny in Paramecium primaurelia.
abstract: Previous cytofluorometric analyses on Paramecium primaurelia, stock 90, provided information that cell inability or capacity to mate are correlated to variations in their total protein content (TPC). Besides, age-associated protein decrease was suggested to take place during the maturity period. This work follows the assumption that cells, conjugating early or late in their maturity, give rise to offspring showing a higher or a lower TPC, respectively, and that the TPC is in some way linked to the well known relation between increased age of conjugant cells and decreased length of immaturity period of their progeny. Isogenic parental lines of stock 90, maintained in exponential growth phase up to their clonal decline, were regularly allowed to mate at increasing fission ages during their maturity period, as long as they produced viable offspring. Firstly, cytofluorometrically measured TPC decreased in aging parental lines. It was subsequently found that exconjugant progeny derived from younger or older parents exhibit a higher or a lower TPC, respectively. Finally, a shortening of the immaturity period in progeny derived from parental cells of increased age is assumed to be related to the TPC variations.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Zoologia dell' Università, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umberta
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corrado