Ultrastructural Changes of the Symbiotic Chlorella-Like Alga Isolated from Hydra Viridis

Author(s):  
K.W. Lee ◽  
R.H. Meints ◽  
D. Kuczmarski ◽  
J.L. Van Etten

The physiological, biochemical, and ultrastructural aspects of the symbiotic relationship between the Chlorella-like algae and the hydra have been intensively investigated. Reciprocal cross-transfer of the Chlorellalike algae between different strains of green hydra provide a system for the study of cell recognition. However, our attempts to culture the algae free of the host hydra of the Florida strain, Hydra viridis, have been consistently unsuccessful. We were, therefore, prompted to examine the isolated algae at the ultrastructural level on a time course.

Author(s):  
Amankwah K.S. ◽  
A.D. Weberg ◽  
R.C. Kaufmann

Previous research has revealed that passive (involuntary inhalation) tobacco smoking during gestation can have adverse effects upon the developing fetus. These prior investigations did not concentrate on changes in fetal morphology. This study was undertaken to delineate fetal neural abnormalities at the ultrastructural level in mice pups exposed in utero to passive maternal smoking.Pregnant study animals, housed in a special chamber, were subjected to cigarette smoke daily from conception until delivery. Blood tests for determination of carbon monoxide levels were run at 15-18 days gestation. Sciatic nerve tissue from experimental and control animals were obtained following spontaneous delivery and fixed in 2.5% gluteraldehyde in 0.1M cacodylate buffer pH 7.3. The samples were post-fixed in osmium ferrocyanide (1:1 mixture of 1.5% aqueous OSO4 and 2.5% K4 Fe(CN)6). Following dehydration, the tissues were infiltrated with and embedded in Spurr. Sections were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 811
Author(s):  
Huifang Yan ◽  
Peisheng Mao

Melatonin priming is an effective strategy to improve the germination of aged oat (Avena sativa L.) seeds, but the mechanism involved in its time-course responses has remained largely unknown. In the present study, the phenotypic differences, ultrastructural changes, physiological characteristics, and proteomic profiles were examined in aged and melatonin-primed seed (with 10 μM melatonin treatment for 12, 24, and 36 h). Thus, 36 h priming (T36) had a better remediation effect on aged seeds, reflecting in the improved germinability and seedlings, relatively intact cell ultrastructures, and enhanced antioxidant capacity. Proteomic analysis revealed 201 differentially abundant proteins between aged and T36 seeds, of which 96 were up-accumulated. In melatonin-primed seeds, the restoration of membrane integrity by improved antioxidant capacity, which was affected by the stimulation of jasmonic acid synthesis via up-accumulation of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid reductase, might be a candidate mechanism. Moreover, the relatively intact ultrastructures enabled amino acid metabolism and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, which were closely associated with energy generation through intermediates of pyruvate, phosphoenolpyruvate, fumarate, and α-ketoglutarate, thus providing energy, active amino acids, and secondary metabolites necessary for germination improvement of aged seeds. These findings clarify the time-course related pathways associated with melatonin priming on promoting the germination of aged oat seeds.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (99) ◽  
pp. 63-68
Author(s):  
O. М. Shchebentovska ◽  
A. K. Kostyniuk

Liver problems of various etiologies in turkeys have been reported in many countries for the last 20 years. Poultry dies having no clinical manifestations of the disease, and at pathological autopsy, diffuse haemorrhages and marked dystrophic changes of the organ are noted. To date, there are several factors that can cause such changes, these are unbalanced amino-acid feed, insufficient calcium, biotin, selenium, the very high energy content of feed; zootechnical factors – limited mobility of birds due to cage density violations, high temperature; genetic factors – the influence of estrogens; infectious factors – E. coli, Clostridium, and viruses of Picornaviridae family. The article describes the histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the turkey liver under the influence of various factors. The material for the research was obtained from a farm where turkeys of the “Hybrid Converter” cross are grown, same age, fed with a standard diet that changed according to the technological map of cultivation. On the 50th day of life, a pathological autopsy of the dead poultry was performed, pieces of liver were selected for histological and ultrastructural examination. The visual assessment revealed significantly enlarged liver, the colour from dark red to light brown, flabby consistency. In some cases, diffuse fatty infiltrations of hepatocytes were histologically revealed, in other cases, focal necrosis with the growth of the connective tissue and the formation of massive perivascular couplings were registered. Large vacuolar fatty degeneration of hepatocytes with subsequent development of fibrosis indicates chronic intoxication, probably caused by slow breakdown of fatty acids in cells due to insufficient oxidative phosphorylation, as well as reduced levels of lipotropic factors: choline, methionine and the vitamins. At the ultrastructural level, a large number of lipid inclusions of various sizes, dystrophic changes in mitochondria were observed, which indicates a decrease in the synthetic activity of cells.


1986 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rahat ◽  
V. Reich

Host/symbiont specificity has been investigated in non-symbiotic and aposymbiotic brown and green hydra infected with various free-living and symbiotic species and strains of Chlorella and Chlorococcum. Morphology and ultrastructure of the symbioses obtained have been compared. Aposymbiotic Swiss Hydra viridis and Japanese H. magnipapillata served as controls. In two strains of H. attenuata stable hereditary symbioses were obtained with Chlorococcum isolated from H. magnipapillata. In one strain of H. vulgaris, in H. oligactis and in aposymbiotic H. viridis chlorococci persisted for more than a week. Eight species of free-living Chlorococcum, 10 symbiotic and 10 free-living strains of Chlorella disappeared from the brown hydra within 1–2 days. In H. magnipapillata there was a graded distribution of chlorococci along the polyps. In hypostomal cells there were greater than 30 algae/cell while in endodermal cells of the mid-section or peduncle less than 10 algae/cell were found. In H. attenuata the algal distribution was irregular, there were up to five chlorocci/cell, and up to 20 cells/hydra hosted algae. In the dark most cells of Chlorococcum disappeared from H. magnipapillata and aposymbiotic hydra were obtained. Chlorococcum is thus an obligate phototroph, and host-dependent heterotrophy is not required for the preservation of a symbiosis. The few chlorococci that survived in the dark seem to belong to a less-demanding physiological strain. In variance with known Chlorella/H. viridis endosymbioses the chlorococci in H. magnipapillata and H. attenuata were tightly enveloped in the vacuolar membrane of the hosting cells with no visible perialgal space. Chlorococcum reproduced in these vacuoles and up to eight daughter cells were found within the same vacuole. We suggest that the graded or scant distribution of chlorococci in the various brown hydra, their inability to live in H. viridis and the inability of the various chlorellae to live in brown hydra are the result of differences in nutrients available to the algae in the respective hosting cells. We conclude that host/symbiont specificity and the various forms of interrelations we show in green and brown hydra with chlorococci and chlorellae are based on nutritional-ecological factors. These interrelations demonstrate successive stages in the evolution of stable obligatoric symbioses from chance encounters of preadapted potential cosymbionts.


2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (12) ◽  
pp. 5964-5970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan K. Brumfield ◽  
Alice C. Ortmann ◽  
Vincent Ruigrok ◽  
Peter Suci ◽  
Trevor Douglas ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Little is known about the replication cycle of archaeal viruses. We have investigated the ultrastructural changes of Sulfolobus solfataricus P2 associated with infection by Sulfolobus turreted icosahedral virus (STIV). A time course of a near synchronous STIV infection was analyzed using both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Assembly of STIV particles, including particles lacking DNA, was observed within cells, and fully assembled STIV particles were visible by 30 h postinfection (hpi). STIV was determined to be a lytic virus, causing cell disruption beginning at 30 hpi. Prior to cell lysis, virus infection resulted in the formation of pyramid-like projections from the cell surface. These projections, which have not been documented in any other host-virus system, appeared to be caused by the protrusion of the cell membrane beyond the bordering S-layer. These structures are thought to be sites at which progeny virus particles are released from infected cells. Based on these observations of lysis, a plaque assay was developed for STIV. From these studies we propose an overall assembly model for STIV.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 559-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mast ◽  
C. Nanbru ◽  
T. van den Berg ◽  
G. Meulemans

The progression of tracheal lesions induced by vaccination of day-old specific pathogen-free chicks with the La Sota strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was examined by relating surface changes as observed by scanning electron microscopy with subcellular changes seen by transmission electron microscopy. NDV infection resulted in hypertrophy of goblet cells, their rupture, and the formation of excess mucus. Activation of goblet cells peaked within 4 days postvaccination. Afterward, the activation levels gradually decreased. At the level of the ciliated cells, a marked increase in the proportion of nonciliated to ciliated cells and later an almost complete deciliation of the tracheal surface were observed because a simple squamous to cuboidal epithelium replaced the original pseudostratified epithelium. Fifteen days postvaccination, all epithelial damage was restored. Because the observed vaccination-induced lesions are detrimental to epithelial integrity and function as a barrier against invading microorganisms, they might explain at the ultrastructural level the secondary complications of vaccination with the La Sota strain against NDV


1988 ◽  
Vol 234 (1276) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  

Cells of a Chlorella sp. symbiotic with green hydra were able to take up leucine via a high-affinity transport mechanism after isolation from the symbiosis, and to incorporate sequestered amino acid into protein. The time course of uptake of leucine by Chlorella cells in the intact symbiosis was followed after hydra were fed with nauplii of the brine shrimp Artemia salina that had been labelled with radioactive leucine. Uptake proceeded in two stages, the first more rapid than the second, separated by a short interval in which there was a consistently observed decrease in the amount of radioactivity per cell. Although leucine from Artemia free amino acid pools was accumulated disproportionately by Chlorella cells in symbiosis, this was not sufficient to explain the initial rapid phase of uptake, nor could changes in rate of uptake with time after feeding be explained by changes in properties of the Chlorella cells. Rather, slower uptake in the second phase, and the decrease in amount of radioactivity per cell which preceded it, were probably due to changes in supply of amino acids to the Chlorella cells. Amino acids transported by the same system as leucine caused efflux of accumulated leucine from isolated Chlorella cells when present in high external concentrations. Thus the observed accumulation of radioactivity in symbiosis may have been the difference between unidirectional influx and unidirectional efflux of leucine dependent upon changes in external concentrations of unlabelled amino acids from Artemia or from hydra pools. This is discussed with reference to host control of algal cell division, which has been shown to be dependent upon supply of a ‘division factor’ from host food.


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (9) ◽  
pp. 949-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Y. Folimonova ◽  
Diann S. Achor

Citrus greening (Huanglongbing [HLB]) is one of the most destructive diseases of citrus worldwide. The causal agent of HLB in Florida is thought to be ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’. Understanding of the early events in HLB infection is critical for the development of effective measures to control the disease. In this work, we conducted cytopathological studies by following the development of the disease in citrus trees graft inoculated with ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’-containing material under greenhouse conditions to examine the correlation between ultrastructural changes and symptom production, with the main objective of characterizing the early events of infection. Based on our observations, one of the first degenerative changes induced upon invasion of the pathogen appears to be swelling of middle lamella between cell walls surrounding sieve elements. This anatomical aberration was often observed in samples from newly growing flushes in inoculated sweet orange and grapefruit trees at the early “presymptomatic” stage of HLB infection. Development of symptoms and their progression correlated with an increasing degree of microscopic aberrations. Remarkably, the ability to observe the bacterium in the infected tissue also correlated with the degree of the disease progression. Large numbers of bacterial cells were found in phloem sieve tubes in tissue samples from presymptomatic young flushes. In contrast, we did not observe the bacteria in highly symptomatic leaf samples, suggesting a possibility that, at more advanced stages of the disease, a major proportion of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ is present in a nonviable state. We trust that observations reported here advance our understanding of how ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ causes disease. Furthermore, they may be an important aid in answering a question: when and where within an infected tree the tissue serves as a better inoculum source for acquisition and transmission of the bacterium by its psyllid vector.


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