scholarly journals STUDIES OF SPERMATOGENESIS IN THE HEPATICAE

1968 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zane B. Carothers ◽  
Gerald L. Kreitner

The blepharoplast in a young, developing spermatid of Marchantia polymorpha, is a composite structure consisting of two basal bodies and a subjacent narrow band of axonemal-type tubules that we have termed the "spline." For most of its length, the spline consists of six long parallel tubules that nearly encircle the cell. The spline anterior is asymmetrically widened for about 2 µ by shorter tubules of the same kind. The lateral displacement of three long, adjacent marginal tubules by three short intervening tubules at the spline tip produces a long narrow aperture. Distally, the aperture is closed by the convergence of the displaced tubules with another trio of long tubules. Together, these form the six-membered cell-encircling portion. The expanded spline anterior has, at this stage of development, the four-layered (Vierergruppe) structure, of which the aforementioned tubules constitute the uppermost layer. The lower three strata consist of diagonal fins, elongated chambers, and fine tubules, respectively. The two flagellar bases lie close above the spline tip—one slightly anterior to the other—and diverge unequally from the spline axis. A few triplets extend proximally from the basal bodies, but do not connect with the spline. The anterior basal body is longer than the posterior one.

1964 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando L. Renaud ◽  
Hewson Swift

The development of basal bodies and flagella in the water mold Allomyces arbusculus has been studied with the electron microscope. A small pre-existing centriole, about 160 mµ in length, was found in an inpocketing of the nuclear membrane in the vegetative hypha. Thus, formation of a basal body does not occur de novo. When the hyphal tip started to differentiate into gametangia, the centrioles were found to exist in pairs. One of the members of the pair then grew distally to more than three times its original length, whereas the other remained the same size. The larger centriole would correspond to the basal body of a future gamete. Gametogenesis was usually induced by transferring a "ripe" culture to distilled water. Shortly after this was done, a few vesicles were pinched off from the cell membrane of the gametangium and came in contact with the basal body. Apparently, they fused and formed a large primary vesicle. The flagellum then started to grow by invaginating into it. Flagellar fibers were evident from the very beginning. As the flagellum grew so did the vesicle by fusion with secondary vesicles, thus coming to form the flagellar sheath. The different stages of flagellar morphogenesis are described and the possible interrelationships with other processes are discussed.


1984 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-143
Author(s):  
R.L. Weiss

The cytoskeleton of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii gametes has been studied by electron microscopy. The microtubular system, consisting of four flagellar roots inserted into the basal apparatus, is shown to include two daughter basal bodies and two striated fibres, newly described in this report. One new fibre associates with the 3-over-1 root and is similar to its counterpart, the striated fibre of the 2-member root. These similar root fibres connect each daughter basal body to the V-shaped microtubular root pair. The other new striated fibre joins the daughter basal body to both flagellar roots and is similar to the proximal striated fibre. In mt+ gametes, the conventional root microtubules make direct contact with the doublet zone of the non-activated mating structure. During activation, doublet zone microfilaments associate with the daughter basal body and the finely striated fibre of the 3-over-1 root. These observations suggest that the cytoskeleton acts as a scaffolding for membrane extension by the mt+ mating structure microfilaments.


1983 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41
Author(s):  
H.J. Hoops ◽  
G.L. Floyd

Immediately following embryonic cleavage, the cells of Astrephomene have four equal-sized basal bodies, two of which are connected by a striated distal fibre and two striated proximal fibres. The four microtubular rootlets, which alternate between having 3/1 and 2 members, are arranged cruciately. The two basal bodies that are connected by the striated fibres then extend into flagella, while the two accessory basal bodies are now markedly shorter. At this stage the flagellar apparatus has 180 degrees rotational symmetry and is very similar to the flagellar apparatus of the unicellular Chlamydomonas and related algae. Development proceeds with a number of concurrent events. The basal bodies begin to separate at their proximal ends and become nearly parallel. Each striated proximal fibre detaches at one end from one of the basal bodies. Each half of the flagellar apparatus, which consists of a flagellum and attached basal body, an accessory basal body, two rootlets and a striated fibre (formerly one of the proximal striated fibres), rotates about 90 degrees, the two halves rotating in opposite directions. An electron-dense strut forms near one two-membered rootlet and grows past both basal bodies. During this time a fine, fibrous component appears between newly developed spade-like structures and associated amorphous material connected to each basal body. The basal bodies continue to separate as the distal fibre stretches and finally detaches from one of them. These processes result in the loss of the 180 degree rotational symmetry present in previous stages. Although the flagella continue to separate, there is no further reorganization of the components of the flagellar apparatus. In the mature cell of Astrephomene, the two flagella are inserted separately and are parallel. The four microtubular rootlets are no longer arranged cruciately. Three of the rootlets are nearly parallel, while the fourth is approximately perpendicular to the other three. A straited fibre connects each basal body to the underside of the strut. These fibres run in the direction of the effective stroke of the flagella and might be important either in anchoring the basal bodies or in the initiation of flagellar motion. Unlike the case in the unicellular Chlamydomonas, the two flagella beat in the same direction and in parallel planes. The flagella of a given cell may or may not beat in synchrony. The combination of this type of flagellar motion and the parallel, separate flagella appears to be suited to the motion of this colonial organism.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 3606-3619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Stemm-Wolf ◽  
Garry Morgan ◽  
Thomas H. Giddings ◽  
Erin A. White ◽  
Robb Marchione ◽  
...  

Centrins, small calcium binding EF-hand proteins, function in the duplication of a variety of microtubule organizing centers. These include centrioles in humans, basal bodies in green algae, and spindle pole bodies in yeast. The ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila contains at least four centrin genes as determined by sequence homology, and these have distinct localization and expression patterns. CEN1's role at the basal body was examined more closely. The Cen1 protein localizes primarily to two locations: one is the site at the base of the basal body where duplication is initiated. The other is the transition zone between the basal body and axoneme. CEN1 is an essential gene, the deletion of which results in the loss of basal bodies, which is likely due to defects in both basal body duplication and basal body maintenance. Analysis of the three other centrins indicates that two of them function at microtubule-rich structures unique to ciliates, whereas the fourth is not expressed under conditions examined in this study, although when artificially expressed it localizes to basal bodies. This study provides evidence that in addition to its previously known function in the duplication of basal bodies, centrin is also important for the integrity of these organelles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shizuka Koshimizu ◽  
Naoki Minamino ◽  
Tomoaki Nishiyama ◽  
Emiko Yoro ◽  
Kazuo Ebine ◽  
...  

Oogamy is a form of sexual reproduction and evolved independently in animals, fungi, and plants. In streptophyte plants, Charophyceae, Coleochaetophyceae, bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns (monilophytes), and some gymnosperms (Cycads and Ginkgo) utilize spermatozoids as the male gamete. Plant spermatozoids commonly possess characteristic structures such as the spline, which consists of a microtubule array, the multilayered structure (MLS) in which the uppermost layer is continuum of the spline, and multiple flagella. However, the molecular mechanisms underpinning plant spermatogenesis remain to be elucidated. To identify the genes involved in plant spermatogenesis, we performed computational analyses and successfully found deeply divergent BLD10s by combining multiple methods and omics-data. We then validated the functions of candidate genes in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha and the moss Physcomitrium patens and found that MpBLD10 and PpBLD10 are required for normal basal body and flagella formation. Mpbld10 mutants exhibited defects in remodeling of the cytoplasm and nucleus during spermatozoid formation, thus MpBLD10 should be involved in chromatin reorganization and elimination of the cytoplasm during spermiogenesis. Streptophyte BLD10s are orthologous to BLD10/CEP135 family proteins, which function in basal body assembly, but we found that BLD10s evolved especially fast in land plants and MpBLD10 might obtain additional functions in spermatozoid formation through the fast molecular evolution. This study provides a successful example of combinatorial study from evolutionary and molecular genetic perspectives that elucidated a function of the key protein of the basal body formation that fast evolved in land plants.


Author(s):  
Robert Hard ◽  
Gerald Rupp ◽  
Matthew L. Withiam-Leitch ◽  
Lisa Cardamone

In a coordinated field of beating cilia, the direction of the power stroke is correlated with the orientation of basal body appendages, called basal feet. In newt lung ciliated cells, adjacent basal feet are interconnected by cold-stable microtubules (basal MTs). In the present study, we investigate the hypothesis that these basal MTs stabilize ciliary distribution and alignment. To accomplish this, newt lung primary cultures were treated with the microtubule disrupting agent, Colcemid. In newt lung cultures, cilia normally disperse in a characteristic fashion as the mucociliary epithelium migrates from the tissue explant. Four arbitrary, but progressive stages of dispersion were defined and used to monitor this redistribution process. Ciliaiy beat frequency, coordination, and dispersion were assessed for 91 hrs in untreated (control) and treated cultures. When compared to controls, cilia dispersed more rapidly and ciliary coordination decreased markedly in cultures treated with Colcemid (2 mM). Correlative LM/EM was used to assess whether these effects of Colcemid were coupled to ultrastructural changes. Living cells were defined as having coordinated or uncoordinated cilia and then were processed for transmission EM.


Author(s):  
Menghan TAO ◽  
Ning XIAO ◽  
Xingfu ZHAO ◽  
Wenbin LIU

New energy vehicles(NEV) as a new thing for sustainable development, in China, on the one hand has faced the rapid expansion of the market; the other hand, for the new NEV users, the current NEVs cannot keep up with the degree of innovation. This paper demonstrates the reasons for the existence of this systematic challenge, and puts forward the method of UX research which is different from the traditional petrol vehicles research in the early stage of development, which studies from the user's essence level, to form the innovative product programs which meet the needs of users and being real attractive.


1970 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 679-700
Author(s):  
J. WOLFE

The oral apparatus of Tetrahymena pyriformis was isolated using a non-ionic detergent to disrupt the cell membrane. The mouth consists largely of basal bodies and microfilaments. Each basal body is attached to the mouth by a basal plate which is integrated into the meshwork of microfilaments that confers upon the oral apparatus its structural integrity. Each basal body is composed of 9 triplet microtubules. Two of the 3 tubules, subfibres ‘A’ and ‘B’ are composed of filamentous rows of globules with a spacing of 4.5nm. The third tubule, subfibre ‘C’, is only one-third the length of the basal body.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 4221-4227 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. McKenzie

Abstract. This paper provides an analysis of the combined theory of gravity-inertial-Rossby waves on a β-plane in the Boussinesq approximation. The wave equation for the system is fifth order in space and time and demonstrates how gravity-inertial waves on the one hand are coupled to Rossby waves on the other through the combined effects of β, the stratification characterized by the Väisälä-Brunt frequency N, the Coriolis frequency f at a given latitude, and vertical propagation which permits buoyancy modes to interact with westward propagating Rossby waves. The corresponding dispersion equation shows that the frequency of a westward propagating gravity-inertial wave is reduced by the coupling, whereas the frequency of a Rossby wave is increased. If the coupling is sufficiently strong these two modes coalesce giving rise to an instability. The instability condition translates into a curve of critical latitude Θc versus effective equatorial rotational Mach number M, with the region below this curve exhibiting instability. "Supersonic" fast rotators are unstable in a narrow band of latitudes around the equator. For example Θc~12° for Jupiter. On the other hand slow "subsonic" rotators (e.g. Mercury, Venus and the Sun's Corona) are unstable at all latitudes except very close to the poles where the β effect vanishes. "Transonic" rotators, such as the Earth and Mars, exhibit instability within latitudes of 34° and 39°, respectively, around the Equator. Similar results pertain to Oceans. In the case of an Earth's Ocean of depth 4km say, purely westward propagating waves are unstable up to 26° about the Equator. The nonlinear evolution of this instability which feeds off rotational energy and gravitational buoyancy may play an important role in atmospheric dynamics.


Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3338 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 855-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen J Simon ◽  
Pierre L Divenyi ◽  
Al Lotze

The effects of varying interaural time delay (ITD) and interaural intensity difference (IID) were measured in normal-hearing sighted and congenitally blind subjects as a function of eleven frequencies and at sound pressure levels of 70 and 90 dB, and at a sensation level of 25 dB (sensation level refers to the pressure level of the sound above its threshold for the individual subject). Using an ‘acoustic’ pointing paradigm, the subject varied the IID of a 500 Hz narrow-band (100 Hz) noise (the ‘pointer’) to coincide with the apparent lateral position of a ‘target’ ITD stimulus. ITDs of 0, ±200, and ±400 μs were obtained through total waveform delays of narrow-band noise, including envelope and fine structure. For both groups, the results of this experiment confirm the traditional view of binaural hearing for like stimuli: non-zero ITDs produce little perceived lateral displacement away from 0 IID at frequencies above 1250 Hz. To the extent that greater magnitude of lateralization for a given ITD, presentation level, and center frequency can be equated with superior localization abilities, blind listeners appear at least comparable and even somewhat better than sighted subjects, especially when attending to signals in the periphery. The present findings suggest that blind listeners are fully able to utilize the cues for spatial hearing, and that vision is not a mandatory prerequisite for the calibration of human spatial hearing.


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