VCRPs, small cysteine-rich proteins, might be involved in extracellular signaling in the green alga Volvox.

The sex-inducer of the spherical green alga Volvox carteri is one of the most potent biological effector molecules known: it is released into the medium by sexual males and triggers the switch to the sexual cleavage program in the reproductive cells of vegetatively grown males and females even at concentrations as low as 10(-16) M. In an adult Volvox alga, all cells are embedded in an extensive extracellular matrix (ECM), which constitutes >99% of the volume of the spheroid. There exist no cytoplasmic connections between the cells in an adult alga, so any signal transduction between different cells or from the organism's environment to a reproductive cell must involve the ECM. Recently, a small cysteine-rich extracellular protein, VCRP, was identified in Volvox and shown to be quickly synthesized by somatic cells in response to the sex-inducer. Due to its characteristics, VCRP was speculated to be an extracellular second messenger from somatic cells to reproductive cells. Here a related protein, VCRP2, is presented, exhibiting a 56% amino acid sequence identity with VCRP. Two possible scenarios for signal transduction from the sex-inducer to the reproductive cell are discussed.