Intracellular Distribution of Ciliatine (2-Aminoethylphosphonic Acid) in Tetrahymena

Abstract

The mitochondria of Tetrahymena pyriformis (GL) contains approximately 19 percent of ciliatine, highest concentration found in total cell; other fractions contain smaller amounts of ciliatine. In labelling experiments, the mitochondria fraction showed higher value than that found in other fractions. This result indicates that the rate of biosynthesis of ciliatine is predominant in the crude mitochondria. In contrast, incorporation of ³²P-phosphorus into phosphonate was not found in the microsome fraction.