Cytodifferentiation in the accessory glands of Tenebrio molitor: VIII. Crossed immunoelectrophoretic analysis of terminal differentiation in the postecdysial tubular accessory glands

摘要

Theterminaldifferentiationofthetubularaccessoryglandsinthepostecdysialmalemealwormbeetle,Tenebriomolitor,ischaracterizedbythesynthesisoffourmajorgroupsofproteinsasanalyzedbyone-dimensionalSDS-poly-acrylamidegelelectrophoresis.Ontwo-dimensionalgels(SDSandpI),twoofthesegroupsofproteins(AandB)areacidicinnatureandhaveapparentMWsof17,500and18,800,respectively.Athirdproteingroup(C)isheterogeneouswithrespecttoisoelectricpoint(neutraltobasic)andhasaMWofabout21,900.Thefourthclassofproteins(D)isdivisibleintotwosubgroupsonthebasisofisoelectricpointsandhasMWsrangingfrom26,400to29,100.Antibodieshavebeenproducedtothesolubleportionofmaturetubularaccessoryglands.Thepreparationsofheterologousantiserahavebeenshowntobeglandspecificfollowingabsorptionwithbean-shapedaccessoryglandhomogenatesandammoniumsulfatefractionation.Thefirstappearanceandsubsequentaccumulationduringpostecdysialmaturationofsomeoftheseproteinshavebeendeterminedbycrossedimmunoelectrophoresis.TheAandBproteinsaredetectedimmunologically,initiallyinthelatepupa,andtheirquantitiesremainunchangeduntilshortlyafteradulteclosion.Duringthe8daysfollowingadulteclosioneachoftheseproteinsincreasesinquantityfroma??10toa??7000ng.Athirdimmunoreactiveproteinappearsinthe2-dayoldadultandincreasestoa??960ngoverthefollowing6days.TheidentityofthisantigenisuncertainalthoughitmayrepresenteithertheCortheDprotein.Basedoncrossedimmunoelectrophoresis,itisevidentthatatleasttwoofthesetubularaccessoryglandantigensappeartocontributetothespermatophore.