Protistology 3 (1) 42–46 (2003) Thermoresistance and electrophoretic spectrum of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in Amoeba proteus after thermal acclimation Yulia I. Podlipaeva
Laboratory of Cytology of Unicellular Organisms, Institute of Cytology, Russian
Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Summary
The cultivation of amoebae (Amoeba proteus) of Da strain at 28 °C – the upper border
of the temperature tolerance range of this strain – does not bring about any changes in
thermoresistance of its glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the chief enzyme
of pentose phosphate shunt, but alters the electrophoretic pattern of the enzyme. A
statistically significant increase in G6PD thermoresistance was observed after the
amoebae were returned from 28 back to 25 °C. It may be associated with epigenetic
variability, a special variability type (Yudin, 1982). The temperature of 28 °C might
presumably be considered as one of the destabilizing factors (together with some
antibiotics, X-rays, micrurgical procedures) which cause the expression of newly
inherited phenotypes in amoebae. Key words: amoebae, Amoeba proteus, thermoresistance, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
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