The occurrence of stage specific antigens during early sea urchin development

✍ Scribed by Westin, Monica

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1972
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 620 KB
• Volume: 179
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401790207

✦ Synopsis

Rabbit antisera to homogenates of unfertilized sea urchin eggs were absorbed with pluteus extract. In the same way, antisera to gastrulae or plutei were also made. "stage specific" by absorption with extracts of eggs. When tested by means of immunoelectrophoresis the absorbed sera formed precipitates with antigens in extracts from homologous developmental stages. Precipitates of such stage specific antigens were removed from the agar plates and reinjected into rabbits. I n this way, monospecific antisera to four stage specific antigens were obtained. Upon closer analysis, the egg specific antigen was found to be heterogeneous, consisting of two components. Both components decreased in concentration and had disappeared by the time of gastrulation. The two pluteus specific antigens seemed to be absent from eggs and earlier stages. By means of isotope incorporation experiments and autoradiography of immunodiffusion plates, it was found that one of these antigens became detectable at the mesenchyme blastula stage while the other was first detected at the prism stage. The fourth antigen, which was clearly detectable from gastrulation onwards, was found to be already present i n the unfertilized eggs but at much lower concentrations than in late developmental stages.