Characterization of the major proteins in gamma particles, cytoplasmic organelles in Blastocladiella emersonii zoospores.

The gamma particles of Blastocladiella emersonii are 0.5-micron (diameter), electron dense, membrane-enclosed organelles in the cytoplasm of zoospores that have been reported (E.C. Cantino and G.L. Mills, in P. Lemke, ed., Viruses and Plasmids in Fungi, 1979, and R.B. Myers and E.C. Cantino, in A. Wolsky (ed.), Monographs in Developmental Biology, 1974) to store the enzyme chitin synthetase. These particles were isolated from zoospores, and the two major proteins were purified for an analysis of their composition and function. The lower-molecular-weight protein (apparent molecular weight, 41,000) was insoluble in aqueous buffers, had an unusual, very basic amino acid composition, and comprised the characteristic electron-dense inclusions seen in micrographs of sections of fixed and stained gamma particles. After dispersal of the gamma particle membranes with detergent, the higher-molecular-weight protein (apparent molecular weight, 43,000) and a third minor protein (apparent molecular weight, 45,000) sedimented through sucrose cushions with the 41 kilodalton inclusion body protein but were dissociated from it by sonication in buffer containing 7 M urea. Together, the two major proteins represent 60 to 70% of the total protein in the gamma particle and 2.9% of the total protein in zoospores. Tests with specific antisera showed that the two major proteins were not antigenically related, a result consistent with the differences in amino acid composition. When zoospore lysates were centrifuged in sucrose density gradients, the major gamma particle proteins and chitin synthetase activity migrated to regions of different density. Proteins from sporulating thalli and germinating zoospores were separated by gel electrophoresis, and the two major gamma particle proteins were detected by reaction with specific antisera after electrophoretic transfer to nitrocellulose filters. Neither protein could be found in growth phase cells; the appearance and disappearances of both proteins were correlated with the formation of the gamma particles during sporulation and their decay during zoospore germination. The results indicate that gamma particles do not store chitin synthetase in the proteinaceous inclusion, but an alternative function has not yet been identified.