Adenylate cyclase activity during growth and encystment of Acanthamoeba castellanii

The adenylate cyclase activity of Acanthamoeba castellanii (Neff) was studied in extracts prepared after breaking cells in the Potter-Elvehjem homogenizer. The adenylate cyclase activity of cells is low during the exponential growth phase, but then rises 2–4-fold during the stationary phase to a peak, roughly at the time that cyst forms are detectable in the culture. A 2–4-fold activity rise to a peak also occurs 4–8 h after late log cells are transferred to a non-nutrient encystment medium, a time which is shortly before numbers of cyst forms can be detected in the culture. The pattern of activity observed when stationary phase cells are transferred to encystment medium is complex and depends in part on whether the cultures have exhibited the peak of cyclase activity and have begun to initiate cyst formation prior to the transfer. Within the usual time frame after transfer to encystment medium, early logarithmic phase cells do not exhibit a 2–4-fold rise of cyclase activity and they do not encyst. The results suggest a relationship between encystment and the pattern of rise and fall in cyclase specific activity. Fractionation of the homogenate of trophozoites indicated that adenylate cyclase activity was associated with the particulate microsomal fraction.