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. 1973 Oct;70(10):2727–2731. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.10.2727

Differentiation in Nostoc muscorum: Nitrogenase Is Synthesized in Heterocysts

Honorée Fleming 1, Robert Haselkorn 1
PMCID: PMC427096  PMID: 4200722

Abstract

Cellular differentiation can be observed in certain filamentous blue-green algae after transfer of the cells from medium containing NH4+ or NO3- to nitrogen-free medium. The appearance of differentiated cells (heterocysts) is accompanied by an increase in the activity of nitrogenase, an enzyme complex that reduces N2 to NH3. We have separated vegetative cells from heterocysts in differentiated filaments of Nostoc muscorum, and analyzed their proteins by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. The pattern of incorporation of 35SO4- into proteins of the two cell types during differentiation indicates that the increase in nitrogenase activity is due to the de novo synthesis of nitrogenase proteins predominantly, if not exclusively, in heterocysts.

Keywords: nitrogenase induction, cellular differentiation, polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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