Development of the quadripolar meiotic apparatus in Funaria spore mother cells: analysis by means of anti-microtubule drug treatments

1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-277
Author(s):  
C. H. BUSBY ◽  
B. E. GUNNING

Microtubule-dependent processes in Funaria hygrometrica spore mother cells (SMCs) were analysed by monitoring the effects of colchicine and oryzalin on pre-meiotic and meiotic events. The techniques used were electron microscopy, immunofluorescence microscopy of microtubules (MTs)and continuous video recording of events in treated and recovering live cells sampled at various stages of sporogenesis. Inferences drawn from previous work that the SMC plastids serve as MT-organizing centres were confirmed in so far as MT recovery in MT-depleted cells starts at the tips of the plastids. The MTs that emanate from these regions are required for positioning the plastids in the tetrahedral conformation, which defines the meiotic poles, for positioning lipid droplets in clusters at these poles and for positioning and holding the nucleus in the tetrahedral cage. If released, the nucleus can be moved by a non-MT system. Other phenomena not controlled by MTs are plastid elongation, maintenance of the tetrahedral conformation-when the MTs are absent (during divisions or as a result of drug treatment) and (probably) development of the organelle band that spans the cell between divisions I and II. In cells treated during division, when there is nonuclear envelope, the pattern of MT recovery is different: the plastids are inactive as microtubule-organizing centres (MTOCs) but MTs reappear among the chromosomes. Spindles capable of transporting chromosomes regenerate. However, the importance of interactions between nucleus and plastids is highlighted by cases in which treatmenthas resulted in: (1) movement of the nucleus out of the quadripolar plastid cage; and (2) loss of the MTs at plastid tips that normally contribute to the spindle poles; in such cases quadripolarity is lost even though functional spindles return. Plastid MTOC activity returns when the nuclear envelope isin place, i.e. in interkinesis and after telophase II.

1981 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
G.A. Sharp ◽  
M. Osborn ◽  
K. Weber

Morphologically undifferentiated and differentiated mouse neuroblastoma N115 and N18 cells were examined after serial sectioning by electron microscopy. A sizeable percentage of the cells revealed multiple centrioles, usually clustered together in the perinuclear area with 2 preferential locations, i.e. above and below the largest nuclear diameter. These results indicate that the multiple microtubule-organizing centres previously visualized by immunofluorescence microscopy with tubulin antibody in neuroblastoma cells recovering from Colcemid poisoning are most likely in majority related to multiple centrioles. This interpretation is further strengthened by experiments in which cells are first recorded in the fluorescence microscope and then after serial sectioning in the electron microscope. The results show that under optimal conditions immunofluorescence microscopy is able to visualize single centrioles. The possible biological significance of the combined electron and immunofluorescence microscopical results is discussed.


Author(s):  
J. H. Hayden

In a previous study, Allen video-enhanced constrast/differential interference constrast (AVEC-DIC) microscopy was used in conjunction with immunofluorescence microscopy to demonstrate that organelles and vesicle move in either direction along linear elements composed of microtubules. However, this study was limited in that the number of microtubules making up a linear element could not be determined. To overcome this limitation, we have used AVEC-DIC microscopy in conjunction with whole mount electron microscopy.Keratocytes from Rana pipiens were grown on glass coverslips as described elsewhere. Gold London Finder grids were Formvar- and carbon coated, and sterilized by exposure to ultraviolet light. It is important to select a Formvar film that gives a grey reflection when it is floated on water. A silver film is too thick and will detract from the image in the light microscope.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-189
Author(s):  
R. Kuriyama ◽  
G.G. Borisy

Conditions that induce the formation of asters in unfertilized sea-urchin eggs have been investigated. Monasters were formed by treatment of eggs with acidic or basic sea-water, or procaine- or thymol-containing sea-water. A second treatment step, incubation with D2O-containing, ethanol-containing or hypertonic sea-water induced multiple cytasters. The number and size of cytasters varied according to the concentration of agents and duration of the first and second treatments, and also upon the species of eggs and the season in which the eggs were obtained. Generally, a longer second treatment or a higher concentration of the second medium resulted in a higher number of cytasters per egg. Asters were isolated and then examined by light and electron microscopy. Isolated monasters apparently lacked centrioles, whereas cytasters obtained from eggs undergoing the two-step treatment contained one or more centrioles. Up to eight centrioles were seen in a single aster; the centrioles appeared to have been produced during the second incubation. Centrospheres prepared from isolated asters retained the capacity to nucleate the formation of microtubules in vitro as assayed by light and electron microscopy. Many microtubules radiated from the centre of isolated asters, whether they contained centrioles or not. This observation is consistent with many other reports that microtubule-organizing centres need not contain centrioles.


1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Woods ◽  
T. Sherwin ◽  
R. Sasse ◽  
T.H. MacRae ◽  
A.J. Baines ◽  
...  

The detergent-insoluble T. brucei cytoskeleton consists of several morphologically distinct regions and organelles, many of which are detectable only by electron microscopy. We have produced a set of monoclonal antibodies that define each structural component of this highly ordered cytoskeleton. The monoclonal antibodies were selected by cloning of hybridomas produced from mice injected with complex mixtures of proteins of either the cytoskeleton itself or salt extracts thereof. Four antibodies define particular tubulin isotypes and locate the microtubules of the axoneme and sub-pellicular array; two antibodies recognize the flagellum attachment zone; one recognizes the paraflagellar rod and another the basal bodies. Finally, one antibody defines a detergent-insoluble component of the nucleus. The antigens detected by each monoclonal antibody have been analysed by immunofluorescence microscopy, immunogold electron microscopy and Western blotting.


1978 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. R27 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Osborn ◽  
RE Webster ◽  
K Weber

PtK2 cells were grown on gold grids and treated with Triton X-100 in a microtubule stabilizing buffer. The resulting cytoskeletons were fixed with glutaraldehyde and subjected to the indirect immunofluorescence procedure using monospecific tubulin antibodies. Grids were examined first by fluorescence microscopy, and the display of fluorescent cytoplasmic microtubules was recorded. The grids were then stained with uranyl acetate and the display of fibrous structures recorded by electron microscopy. Thus the display of cytoplasmic microtubular structures in the light microscope and the electron microscope can be compared within the same cytoskeleton. The results show a direct correspondence of the fluorescent fibers in the light microscope with uninterrupted fibers of diameter approximately 550 A in the electron microscope. This is the diameter reported for a single microtubule decorated around its circumference by two layers of antibody molecules. Thus under optimal conditions immunofluorescence microscopy can visualize individual microtubules.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sónia Gomes Pereira ◽  
Ana Laura Sousa ◽  
Catarina Nabais ◽  
Tiago Paixão ◽  
Alexander. J. Holmes ◽  
...  

Abstract/SummaryCentrioles are structurally conserved organelles, composing both centrosomes and cilia. In animal cycling cells, centrioles often form through a highly characterized process termed canonical duplication. However, a large diversity of eukaryotes form centrioles de novo through uncharacterized pathways. This unexplored diversity is key to understanding centriole assembly mechanisms and how they evolved to assist specific cellular functions. Here, combining electron microscopy and tomography, we show that during spermatogenesis of the moss Physcomitrium patens, centrioles are born as a co-axially oriented centriole pair united by a cartwheel. We observe that microtubules emanate from those bicentrioles, which localize to the spindle poles during cell division. Thereafter, each bicentriole breaks apart, and the two resulting sister centrioles mature asymmetrically, elongating specific microtubule triplets and a naked cartwheel. Subsequently, two cilia are assembled which are capable of beating asynchronously. We further show that conserved cartwheel and centriole wall components, SAS6, BLD10 and POC1 are expressed during spermatogenesis and are required for this de novo biogenesis pathway. Our work supports a scenario where centriole biogenesis is more diverse than previously thought and that conserved molecular modules underlie diversification of this essential pathway.


2012 ◽  
Vol 128 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 95-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Mickle ◽  
Maria Rosaria Barone Lumaga ◽  
Paolo De Luca

Abstract Apical regions of developing aerial shoots of Psilotum nudum (L.) Beauv. were studied using both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) with the aim of improving our understanding of early stages in stomatal and epidermal ontogenesis. SEM samples were fixed in gluteraldehyde, critical point dried, and coated with an Au-Pd alloy. LM samples were fixed in FAA and embedded in paraffin. LM sections were stained with 0.05% toluidine blue for protein. SEM shows that P. nudum stomata develop from 20 µm-long domed meristemoid cells into guard cell mother cells (GMCs). A furrow dividing guard cells develops at 30 µm long, and wax deposition that will cover the entire cell begins at 70 µm long. LM longitudinal sections of GMCs show a cytoplasmic protein net that organizes into radial fibers, similar to reports of actin fibers in stomata of angiosperms. This study provides additional details of stomatal development in Psilotum and is the first report of an actin-like protein net in Psilotum.


1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (24) ◽  
pp. 3043-3053 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.J. Wang ◽  
N. Benlimame ◽  
I. Nabi

Autocrine motility factor receptor (AMF-R) is a marker for a distinct smooth membranous tubule. Ilimaquinone (IQ) is a sea sponge metabolite which induces the complete vesiculation of the Golgi apparatus and we show here that the addition of IQ to MDCK cells also results in the disruption of the AMF-R tubule. By immunofluorescence microscopy, the resultant punctate AMF-R label resembles the products of IQ-mediated vesiculation of the trans-Golgi network, however, the two labels can be distinguished by confocal microscopy. AMF-R tubule fragmentation occurs after nocodazole or taxol treatment of the cells demonstrating that the action of IQ on AMF-R tubules is not related to the ability of IQ to depolymerize microtubules. IQ activity is therefore not Golgi-specific. Electron microscopy of IQ-treated cells reveals that AMF-R is distributed to fenestrated networks of narrow interconnected tubules which are distinguishable from the uniform Golgi-derived vesicles and morphologically equivalent to smooth ER. Distinct fenestrations are visible in incompletely fragmented tubules which may represent intermediates in the fragmentation process. Smooth AMF-R labeled tubules exhibit continuity with rough ER cisternae and IQ selectively targets smooth and not rough ER. AMF-R tubules can be distinguished from the intermediate compartment labeled for ERGIC-53 by confocal microscopy and thus constitute a distinct IQ-sensitive subdomain of the smooth ER.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Hada

Abstract Background and Aims The etiology and cellular pathogenesis of podocyte injury leading to minimal-change disease (MCD) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) remain largely obscure. Genetic mutation of crumbs homolog 2 (CRB2) is a cause of congenital nephrotic syndrome. Type-1 transmembrane proteins including CRB2 transduce outside-in signals that are involved in various cellular events including changes in the cytoskeletal network. The aim of the present study is to determine whether alteration of CRB2-mediated signaling in podocytes causes MCD and FSGS. Method Mice were immunized with a partial recombinant protein including the extracellular part of mouse CRB2. Urinalysis was obtained, and the kidney was subjected to histopathology. Kidney samples were also subjected to immunofluorescence microscopy and glomerular isolation to determine whether activation of the ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) family of cross-linkers between plasma membrane proteins and the actin cytoskeleton is involved in the pathogenesis of this nephrotic model. A CRB2-expressing mouse podocyte cell line was generated and incubated with anti-CRB2 antibody, and cell lysates were subjected to immunoblot analysis of ERM phosphorylation. The presence of anti-CRB2 antibody in the serum was determined by Western blot analysis. Results Apparent anti-CRB2 antibody was detected in the serum from 4 weeks onward. Immunized mice developed proteinuria at 4 weeks, which continued at least until 29 weeks. Mice developing extremely heavy proteinuria also developed hematuria from 18 weeks onward. Light microscopy revealed MCD in mice with proteinuria alone and FSGS in mice with heavy proteinuria and hematuria. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed positive granular IgG staining in podocyte foot processes, but not complement C3. Electron microscopy and immuno-electron microscopy revealed alteration of actin organization associated with prominent foot process effacement. Strong phosphorylation of ezrin was observed in the glomerulus from the proteinuric stage and in the cellular lysates from the CRB2-expressing podocyte cell line incubated with anti-CRB2 antibody. Conclusion The current data revealed that binding of anti-CRB2 antibody to the extracellular domain of CRB2 on the podocyte foot process activated the ezrin-cytoskeleton network, leading to podocyte injury. Our data also indicated that signaling by this one molecular can induce two different phenotypes of glomerular injury: MCD and FSGS. In our model, the signaling was activated by anti-CRB2 antibody, but in patients with nephrotic syndrome the CRB2 ligands remain unknown. Therefore, it will be important to identify the soluble factors interacting with CRB2, which may be novel factors contributing to the pathogenesis of MCD and FSGS.


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