scholarly journals The Fine Structure of Streptomyces coelicolor

1960 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey M. Glauert ◽  
David A. Hopwood

Colonies and spore suspensions of Streptomyces coelicolor were fixed by the method of Kellenberger, Ryter, and Séchaud (1958) and embedded in methacrylate or araldite. Thin sections were cut with an A. F. Huxley microtome and examined in a Siemens' Elmiskop I. At all stages of development the hyphae of Streptomyces coelicolor have an extensive membranous component in the cytoplasm. The membranes are continuous with the plasma membrane and have a variety of configurations at different places in the hyphae. Tubular structures, vesicles, and parallel stacks of membranes are seen. In some areas concentric layers of membranes form whorled structures which are particularly frequent in the region of developing cross-walls and within maturing spores. In the spores membranous structures often lie embedded in the nuclear material. In disintegrating hyphae the intracytoplasmic membranes round off into small vesicles and remain when the rest of the cytoplasmic structure has gone. In the absence of typical mitochondria and other cytoplasmic membranous structures it is possible that the membranous component of the cytoplasm of Streptomyces coelicolor may perform the functions of the endoplasmic reticulum and/or the mitochondria of higher cells.

1960 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hopwood ◽  
Audrey M. Glauert

Colonies and spore suspensions of Streptomyces coelicolor were fixed for electron microscopy by the method of Kellenberger, Ryter, and Séchaud (1958). In thin sections the nuclear regions have a lower average density than the cytoplasm and the outlines of these regions correspond well with the profiles of the chromatinic bodies observed with the light microscope. The nuclear regions contain fibrils, about 5 mµ in diameter. In contrast, after fixation by the method of Palade (1952) the nuclear material is coagulated into irregular dense masses and tubular structures about 20 mµ in diameter, lying in a nuclear "vacuole." The significance of these observations is discussed in relation to the observations of other workers on the fine structure of the nuclear material of other bacteria and the chromosomes of higher cells.


1962 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Benjamin Bouck

Thin sections of the red alga, Lomentaria baileyana, a tubular member of the Rhodymeniales, were examined after permanganate fixation and Araldite embedding. Many of the cellular structures in Lomentaria were found to be similar to analogous structures in animals and higher plants. However, in the walls between cells are modified areas generally known as pits which are unique to the higher orders of red algae (Florideae). In this study the pits were found to consist of a plug-like structure surrounded by an uninterrupted membrane apparently continuous with the plasma membrane. Examination of the chromatophore revealed a characteristic limiting membrane, a relatively sparse distribution of plates, no grana, and a single disc apparently oriented parallel to the limiting membrane. In addition to their origin from non-lamellate proplastids, chromatophores were found capable of division by simple constriction. Floridean starch grains were observed outside the chromatophore and the possibility of an association of the first formed grains with portions of the endoplasmic reticulum is considered. Gland cells seem to have a high proportion of Golgi components (dictyosomes), and are believed to have some kind of secretory function. Many of the Golgi vesicles seem to open on the wall and presumably discharge their contents.


1973 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith F. M. Hoeniger ◽  
H.-D. Tauschel ◽  
J. L. Stokes

Sphaerotilus natans developed sheathed filaments in stationary liquid cultures and motile swarm cells in shaken ones. Electron microscopy of negatively stained preparations and thin sections showed that the sheath consists of fibrils. When the filaments were grown in broth with glucose added, the sheath was much thicker and the cells were packed with granules of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate.Swarm cells possess a subpolar tuft of 10 to 30 flagella and a polar organelle which is usually inserted in a lateral position and believed to be ribbon-shaped. The polar organelle consists of an inner layer joined by spokes to an accentuated plasma membrane. The flagellar hook terminates in a basal disk, consisting of two rings, which is connected by a central rod to a second basal disk.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (20) ◽  
pp. 2116-2121 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Ruch ◽  
C. E. Bland

The effects of the fungicide Captan on growth, development, and fine structure of the marine fungus Lagenidium callinectes Couch are studied. At the minimum lethal concentration (LC100) of Captan for L. callinectes (3.2 ppm active component), zoospores exposed for 30 min failed to encyst or germinate. Ultrastructural changes caused by exposure to Captan included "washing-out" of the mitochondrial matrix and disappearance of many of the cristae, clumping of the chromatin and disappearance of the nuclear matrix, and swelling of the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum. Longer exposure of zoospores to Captan resulted ultimately in breakdown of the plasma membrane. These observations were in agreement with those of previous studies which indicated that the toxic action of Captan occurs primarily in mitochondria.


1958 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Ladman

The fine structure of the rod-bipolar synapse is described and illustrated. Each rod spherule possesses a large, single, oval or elongate mitochondrion approximately 0.5 x 2.0 microns. Surrounding the mitochondrion are elements of agranular endoplasmic reticulum. The bipolar dendrite projects into the lower pole of the spherule and usually terminates in two lobes separated by a cleft. The plasma membranes appear dense and thicker in the region of the synapse. In the rod spherule cytoplasm, contiguous with the plasma membrane is a dense, slightly concave arciform structure, the rod arciform density, extending from the base of the bipolar bifid process through the cleft to an equivalent point on the opposite side. Also within the spherule, and external (towards the sclera) to the rod arciform density, is a parallel, dense, thin lamella, the rod synaptic lamella. This is approximately 25 mµ in thickness and 400 mµ in width at its widest extent. This halfmoon-shaped plate straddles the cleft between the two lobes of the bipolar process. The lamella appears to consist of short regular rodlets or cylinders 5 to 7 mµ in diameter, oriented with their long axes perpendicular to the plane of the lamella. Minute cytoplasmic vesicles found in the cytoplasm of both the rod spherule and the bipolar terminal are most abundant near the rod synaptic lamella.


1955 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford L. Palay ◽  
George E. Palade

1. Thin sections of representative neurons from intramural, sympathetic and dorsal root ganglia, medulla oblongata, and cerebellar cortex were studied with the aid of the electron microscope. 2. The Nissl substance of these neurons consists of masses of endoplasmic reticulum showing various degrees of orientation; upon and between the cisternae, tubules, and vesicles of the reticulum lie clusters of punctate granules, 10 to 30 mµ in diameter. 3. A second system of membranes can be distinguished from the endoplasmic reticulum of the Nissl bodies by shallower and more tightly packed cisternae and by absence of granules. Intermediate forms between the two membranous systems have been found. 4. The cytoplasm between Nissl bodies contains numerous mitochondria, rounded lipid inclusions, and fine filaments.


1972 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 997-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. L. Stevenson ◽  
S. A. W. E. Becker

Methods have been developed for the rapid, reproducible induction of high-density populations of F. oxysporum chlamydospores. On transferring washed pregerminated conidia to a simple two-salts medium, chlamydospore morphogenesis was evident by 12 h and masses of mature spores could be harvested at the end of 4 days. Electron-microscope studies of thin sections of mature chlamydospores reveal a thick triple-layered cell wall. The cytoplasm contains, in addition to large lipid deposits, a nucleus, mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum all typical of fungal cells. Chlamydospores of F. oxysporum exhibit two distinct types of cell surface in thin section. The outer wall layer of two of the isolates studied was smooth-surfaced while the outer layer of the two other isolates was distinctly fibrillose. Some evidence is presented suggesting that the fibrillose material arises through the partial breakdown of the original hyphal wall.


1965 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Hicks

The fine structure of the transitional epithelium of rat ureter has been studied in thin sections with the electron microscope, including some stained cytochemically to show nucleoside triphosphatase activity. The epithelium is three to four cells deep with cuboidal or columnar basal cells, intermediate cells, and superficial squamous cells. The basal cells are attached by half desmosomes, or attachment plates, on their basal membranes to a basement membrane which separates the epithelium from the lamina propria. Fine extracellular fibres, ca. 100 A in diameter, are to be found in the connective tissue layer immediately below the basement membrane of this epithelium. The plasma membranes of the basal and intermediate cells and the lateral and basal membranes of the squamous cells are deeply interdigitated, and nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with them. All the cells have a dense feltwork of tonofilaments which ramify throughout the cytoplasm. The existence of junctional complexes, comprising a zonula occludens, zonula adhaerens, and macula adhaerens or desmosome, between the lateral borders of the squamous cells is reported. It is suggested that this complex is the major obstacle to the free flow of water from the extracellular spaces into the hypertonic urine. The free luminal surface of the squamous cells and many cytoplasmic vesicles in these cells are bounded by an unusually thick plasma membrane. The three leaflets of this unit membrane are asymmetric, with the outer one about twice as thick as the innermost one. The vesicles and the plasma membrane maintain angular conformations which suggest the membrane to be unusually rigid. No nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with this membrane. Arguments are presented to support a suggestion that this thick plasma membrane is the morphological site of a passive permeability barrier to water flow across the cells, and that keratin may be included in the membrane structure. The possible origin of the thick plasma membrane in the Golgi complex is discussed. Bodies with heterogeneous contents, including characteristic hexagonally packed stacks of thick membranes, are described. It is suggested that these are "disposal units" for old or surplus thick membrane. A cell type is described, which forms only 0.1 to 0.5 per cent of the total cell population and contains bundles of tubular fibres or crystallites. Their origin and function are not known.


1962 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Buck ◽  
James M. Tisdale

The development of the mid-body has been studied in mitotic erythroblasts of the rat bone marrow by means of thin sections examined with the electron microscope. A differentiated region on the continuous spindle fibers, consisting of a localized increase in density, is observed at the equatorial plane. The mid-body seems to develop by the aggregation of such denser lengths of spindle fiber. Its appearance precedes that of the cleavage furrow. A plate-like arrangement of fibrillary material lies transversely across the telophase intercellular bridge. Later, this material becomes amorphous and assumes the form of a dense ring closely applied to a ridge in the plasma membrane encircling the middle of the bridge. Although the mid-body forms in association with the spindle fibers, it is a structurally distinct part, and the changes which it undergoes are not shared by the rest of the bundle of continuous fibers.


1960 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 813-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hopwood ◽  
Audrey M. Glauert

The chromatinic material of the blue-green alga Anabaena cylindrica has complex configurations in the central regions of the cells. The distribution of the chromatin within the cells varies in different filaments, probably in response to variations in the disposition of other cellular components. In electron micrographs of thin sections of organisms fixed by the method of Kellenberger, Ryter, and Séchaud (1958) the centroplasm contains fibrillar and possibly granular components which can be identified as the nuclear material by comparison with stained preparations viewed in the light microscope. The fibrils in the nuclear regions have diameters in the range of 5 to 7 mµ and are embedded in a matrix of lower density. The nuclear regions are not greatly different from the cytoplasm in their electron density. Reducing the calcium content of the fixative results in coagulation of the fibrils to form coarser structures. The significance of the observations is discussed in relation to observations on the fine structure of other classes of algae and of bacteria.


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