Comparative Immunology of Algal Biliproteins
AUTOR(ES)
Glazer, A. N.
RESUMO
The three spectroscopically distinct classes of phycobiliproteins characteristic of the Cyanophyta and Rhodophyta—phycocyanins, allophycocyanins, and phycoerythrins—share no common antigenic determinants detectable by the Ouchterlony double diffusion technique. Each class of phycobiliprotein, from both Cyanophyta and Rhodophyta, possesses a strong determinant common to all members of that class. With respect to an antiserum directed against a specific cyanophytan biliprotein, all heterologous biliproteins of the same class are immunologically identical, as shown by the fact that absorption with a given heterologous antigen simultaneously eliminates crossreactions with other heterologous antigens. A cryptophytan phycoerythrin was found to be immunologically unrelated to any of the cyanophytan or rhodophytan biliproteins examined.
