Nature and cellular origin of the adhesive coats of the lamprey egg (Petromyzon marinus)

✍ Scribed by Marc A. Yorke; Donald B. McMillan

• Book ID: 102902898
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 895 KB
• Volume: 162
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0362-2525
• DOI: 10.1002/jmor.1051620303

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Cell surface coats are important in adhesion and other cellular activities. The lamprey egg possesses a surface coat that has been divided into two morphologically and functionally distinct regions. The amorphous apical tuft forms a cap over the animal pole, while the elaborately‐textured adhesive coat covers the ventral two‐thirds of the egg. This latter area is composed of saccules that form rosettes over the egg surface and is derived from the remains of specialized follicular cells which break down during ovulation. The adhesive qualities of these coats may be inhibited or abolished by various proteins and sulphydryl‐blocking agents, thereby implicating, as a possible source of this adhesion, classes of acid and sulphated glycoproteins and glycosaminoglycans which occur on the egg surface.