Summary
Chemical analysis of purified preparations of gas vesicles isolated from the filamentous blue-green alga Anabaena flos-aquae has shown that they are similar in composition to those isolated from the unicellular alga Microcystis aeruginosa by Jones and Jost (1970), being proteinaceous structures, free of lipid and carbohydrate. The gas vesicle protein from Anabaena contains the same 14 amino acids, in broadly the same proportions; in addition there is a small proportion of proline. No sulphur-containing amino acids are present. The empirical formula, suggested by the amino acid ratios, indicates a molecule of 15000 MW.
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Falkenberg, P., Buckland, B. & Walsby, A.E. Chemical composition of gas vesicles isolated from Anabaena flos-aquae . Archiv. Mikrobiol. 85, 304–309 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549268
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549268