IDENTIFICATION OF A MYOSIN‐LIKE PROTEIN IN CHLAMYDOMONAS REINHARDTII (CHLOROPHYTA)1

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Abstract
A myosin‐like protein was identified in vegetative cells of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard. Polyclonal antibodies affinity purified against the heavy chain of slime‐mold myosin recognized a 180,000 Mr protein in western blots of total protein extracts from three different strains, including cyt‐1, a cytokinesis‐defective mutant. Immunoblots of isolated chloroplasts indicated that some of the cellular myosin fractionated with chloroplasts, whereas tubulin did not. Evidence for the presence of at least one myosin gene was obtained by probing Southern blots of genomic DNA with a myosin heavy‐chain gene fragment isolated from the green alga Ernodesmis verticillata (Kützing) Børgesen. Collectively, the immunological and molecular data identify at least one myosin heavy‐chain gene and a myosin‐like protein in vegetative cells of the model organism Chlamydomonas.