Concanavalin A and the motile behaviour of the ciliate Tetrahymena

Concanavalin A (Con A) is a plant lectin that inhibits the persistent swimming behaviour of Tetrahymena cells by increasing ciliary reversals. Con A also increases ciliary reversals following chemosensory adaptation when it acts as a chemoattractant. The Con A effect is inhibited by mannose suggesting that Con A binds to glycoproteins in cellular membranes. In order to isolate these glycoproteins membrane proteins were fractionated by Con A-Sepharose affinity chromatography. A ciliary membrane protein denoted p66 was purified by two-step affinity chromatography from a whole cell Triton X-100 extract of Tetrahymena thermophila.