Immunofluorescent Identification of Dystrophin, Actin, and Light and Heavy Myosin Chains in Somatic Cells of Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris

Abstract

In muscle cells of the motor muscle of earthworm Lumbricus terrestris, the dystrophin and actin proteins and fast and slow isoforms of myosin heavy chains were determined using fluorescence microscopy. It can be thought that the expression of these proteins occurred at the earliest stages of the evolutionary formation of the intracellular contractile apparatus of the motor tissue in both invertebrates and vertebrates. This study will complement the picture of the evolutionary development of motor muscle tissue.