A. Sghir et D. David, IMMUNOLOGICAL COMPARISONS OF MAJOR CORTICAL CYTOSKELETAL PROTEINS IN 4 ENTODINIOMORPHID CILIATES, European journal of protistology, 31(1), 1995, pp. 16-23
Biochemical and immunological studies of the membrane cytoskeleton wer
e carried out using the entodiniomorphid ciliated protozoa: Entodinium
bursa, Eudiplodinium magii, Epidinium caudatum and Polyplastron multi
vesiculatum. Immunological cross-reactions within the four ciliates sh
ow significant labelling of proteins with the same or different molecu
lar weights among species. Antigenic homologies among cytoskeletal pro
teins with variable MW suggest that Ophryoscolecidae have maintained b
oth a similar architectural organization and a cytoskeletal function w
hile diversifying the MW of many cytoskeletal proteins. A comparative
study of the antigenic relationships points away from an evolutionary
lineage from simplest (the ancestral Entodinium) to more complex (the
intermediate Eudiplodinium and the more advanced Epidinium and then Po
lyplastron), and also the linear evolution based on the increasing com
plexity of the cytoalimentary system. It suggests a bushy evolution by
radiation from unknown ancestral forms. This is supported by sequenci
ng of the different entodiniomorphid ribosomal RNAs.