Suctorian ciliates and their ciliated prey display remarkable cell-cell recognition and interaction phenomena. Prey are recognized by receptors located on the knob of the predator's tentacle. The prey are recognized through components of their cilia. The proposed work will utilize the predator Discophrya collini, and its prey, Tetrahymena. This is a system which is easily manipulated experimentally. The prey protein(s) that are recognized will be identified by monoclonal antibody technology, and characterized biochemically and ultrastructurally. Related prey species will be tested for cross- reactivity. The results will provide the crucial first step in dissecting, at the molecular level, this cell-cell recognition phenomenon. The work constitutes a clever and potentially useful model system for exploring cell-cell recognition phenomena at the molecular level. Insights gained from this project may well turn out to be applicable to cell-cell recognition phenomena in other systems, including higher organisms.
