The recognition capacity

Sponges (phylum Porifera) live in a symbiotic relationship with microorganisms, primarily bacteria. Until now, mole-cular proof for the capacity of sponges to recognize fungi in the surroundingaqueousmilieuhas not beenavailable.Here we demonstrate, for the demospongeSuberites domuncula (Porifera, Demospongiae, Hadromerida), a cell surface receptor that recognizes (1fi3)-b-D-glucans, e.g. curdlan or laminarin. This receptor, the (1fi3)-b-D-glucan-binding protein, was identified and its cDNA analysed.

14p dell39 03-04-2013 37 5   Download