| Abstract: | The plasmalemma, phagolysosomes and symbiont-containing vesicles of amoebae were isolated and their membrane components were compared by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and radioautography. Both morphological and compositional changes occurred in the course of plasmalemma-to-phagolysosome membrane transition during phagocytosis; the number of PAS-staining bands and the staining intensity decreased, whereas Coomassie blue-stainable and iodinatable polypeptides increased in the number of bands and staining intensity. The membranes of symbiont-containing vesicles which did not fuse with lysosomes contained one large-molecular-weight component which was not found either in the plasmalemma or phagolysosomal membranes. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to the observed selectivity of membrane fusion. |
