Polypeptides of hydrogenosome-enriched fractions from rumen ciliate protozoa and trichomonads: immunological studies.

The evolution of hydrogenosomes, energy-generating organelles of rumen ciliate protozoa and the flagellate trichomonads has been the subject of much speculation. Polypeptides of the hydrogenosome-enriched fractions from the rumen ciliates, Dasytricha ruminantium, Isostricha spp., Polyplastron multivesiculatum and Eudiplodinium maggii were separated by SDS-PAGE and compared to analogous polypeptide preparations from Tritrichomonas foetus. Immunoblotting with antisera specific to the hydrogenosomes of T. foetus identified common immunoreactive polypeptides present at estimated molecular masses of 28, 35, 38, 44, 48, 58, 100 and 120 kDa. That at 120 kDa corresponds to a single subunit of the purified pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase from the hydrogenosome of Trichomonas vaginalis.