The aggregation chemoattractant (or acrasin) of Polysphondylium violaceum, a species of cellular slime mold that does not respond chemotactically to cAMP, has been identified. It was extracted and purified from aggregating amoebae, then analyzed for amino acid composition and by IR and mass spectrometry. The active molecule is N-propionyl-gamma-L-glutamyl-L-ornithine-delta-lactam ethyl ester (Mr, 327), which we have named glorin. The compound has been synthesized and shows normal chemotactic activity with the amoebae of P. violaceum.
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Shimomura et al. (1982) studied this question.
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