scholarly journals The cell biological basis of ciliary disease

2008 ◽  
Vol 180 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wallace F. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Disease Symptoms ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Biological Basis ◽  
Basic Cell ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Clinical Complexity

Defects in cilia cause a broad spectrum of human diseases known collectively as the ciliopathies. Although all ciliopathies arise from defective cilia, the range of symptoms can vary significantly, and only a small subset of the possible ciliary disease symptoms may be present in any given syndrome. This complexity is puzzling until one realizes that the cilia are themselves exceedingly complex machines that perform multiple functions simultaneously, such that breaking one piece of the machine can leave some functions intact while destroying others. The clinical complexity of the ciliopathies can therefore only be understood in light of the basic cell biology of the cilia themselves, which I will discuss from the viewpoint of cell biological studies in model organisms.

scholarly journals Publisher Correction: Genetic tool development in marine protists: emerging model organisms for experimental cell biology

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 551-551
Author(s):  
Drahomíra Faktorová ◽  
R. Ellen R. Nisbet ◽  
José A. Fernández Robledo ◽  
Elena Casacuberta ◽  
Lisa Sudek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Tool Development ◽  
Experimental Cell ◽  
Genetic Tool ◽  
Marine Protists

scholarly journals Insights into mammalian biology from the wild house mouse Mus musculus

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Phifer-Rixey ◽  
Michael W Nachman
Keyword(s):  
House Mouse ◽  
Mus Musculus ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Inbred Strains ◽  
Mendelian Inheritance ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Wild Mice ◽  
Wide Range

The house mouse, Mus musculus, was established in the early 1900s as one of the first genetic model organisms owing to its short generation time, comparatively large litters, ease of husbandry, and visible phenotypic variants. For these reasons and because they are mammals, house mice are well suited to serve as models for human phenotypes and disease. House mice in the wild consist of at least three distinct subspecies and harbor extensive genetic and phenotypic variation both within and between these subspecies. Wild mice have been used to study a wide range of biological processes, including immunity, cancer, male sterility, adaptive evolution, and non-Mendelian inheritance. Despite the extensive variation that exists among wild mice, classical laboratory strains are derived from a limited set of founders and thus contain only a small subset of this variation. Continued efforts to study wild house mice and to create new inbred strains from wild populations have the potential to strengthen house mice as a model system.

Basic Cell Biology

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Kedar N. Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Basic Cell

scholarly journals A unicellular walker embodies a finite state machine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben T. Larson ◽  
Jack Garbus ◽  
Jordan B. Pollack ◽  
Wallace F. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Finite State Machine ◽  
Detailed Balance ◽  
State Machine ◽  
Theoretical Computer Science ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Finite State ◽  
Computational Processes

Cells are complex biochemical systems whose behavior emerges from interactions among myriad molecular components. The idea that cells execute computational processes is often invoked as a general framework for understanding cellular complexity. However, the manner in which cells might embody computational processes in a way that the powerful theories of computation, such as finite state machine models, could be productively applied, remains to be seen. Here we demonstrate finite state machine-like processing embodied in cells, using the walking behavior of Euplotes eurystomus, a ciliate that walks across surfaces using fourteen motile appendages called cirri. We found that cellular walking entails a discrete set of gait states. Transitions between these states are highly regulated, with distinct breaking of detailed balance and only a small subset of possible transitions actually observed. The set of observed transitions decomposes into a small group of high-probability unbalanced transitions forming a cycle and a large group of low-probability balanced transitions, thus revealing stereotypy in sequential patterns of state transitions. Taken together these findings implicate a machine-like process. Cirri are connected by microtubule bundles, and we find an association between the involvement of cirri in different state transitions and the pattern of attachment to the microtubule bundle system, suggesting a mechanical basis for the regularity of state transitions. We propose a model where the actively controlled, unbalanced transitions establish strain in certain cirri, the release of which from the substrate causes the cell to advance forward along a linear trajectory. This demonstration of a finite state machine embodied in a living cell opens up new links between theoretical computer science and cell biology and may provide a general framework for understanding and predicting cell behavior at a super-molecular level.

Positional Correlative Anatomy of Invertebrate Model Organisms Increases Efficiency of TEM Data Production

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1392-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Kolotuev
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Sampling Rate ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Step Method ◽  
Efficient Data ◽  
Research Questions

AbstractTransmission electron microscopy (TEM) is an important tool for studies in cell biology, and is essential to address research questions from bacteria to animals. Recent technological innovations have advanced the entire field of TEM, yet classical techniques still prevail for most present-day studies. Indeed, the majority of cell and developmental biology studies that use TEM do not require cutting-edge methodologies, but rather fast and efficient data generation. Although access to state-of-the-art equipment is frequently problematic, standard TEM microscopes are typically available, even in modest research facilities. However, a major unmet need in standard TEM is the ability to quickly prepare and orient a sample to identify a region of interest. Here, I provide a detailed step-by-step method for a positional correlative anatomy approach to flat-embedded samples. These modifications make the TEM preparation and analytic procedures faster and more straightforward, supporting a higher sampling rate. To illustrate the modified procedures, I provide numerous examples addressing research questions in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila. This method can be equally applied to address questions of cell and developmental biology in other small multicellular model organisms.

Terrestrial Environments

2020 ◽  
pp. 359-388
Author(s):  
Spyros Sfenthourakis ◽  
Alan A. Myers ◽  
Stefano Taiti ◽  
James K. Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Terrestrial Isopods ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
The Family ◽  
Terrestrial Environments ◽  
Forest Leaf Litter ◽  
Almost All

Among crustaceans, only Amphipoda, Isopoda, and Decapoda have invaded truly terrestrial environments, but only two groups show full adaptations to live on land: the family Talitridae among the Amphipoda and the suborder Oniscidea among the Isopoda. The Talitridae occur primarily in forest leaf litter, but a number of other habitats, including caves, are recorded. Talitrids are important ecological contributors to the litter fauna, often occurring in high densities. Their adaptations to a terrestrial way of life include the retention of the mitten-shaped second gnathopods, a neotenic condition among males; the first article of antenna 2 greatly enlarged and fixed to the side of the head; and enlarged gills and pleopods often reduced, sometimes to vestigial stumps. Talitrids have a skewed world distribution being at their most diverse in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Japan/Taiwan. They occur in the Caribbean and Central America but are absent from South and North America except as introduced taxa. Their distribution is largely a result of tectonic activity during the past 150 million years and of extinctions during the Tertiary due to increasing aridity of the climate. The Oniscidea (terrestrial isopods) are the only crustaceans that have managed to adapt to almost all habitat types on land and have become the most species-rich suborder of Isopoda. Although monophyly of the Oniscidea is generally accepted, current taxonomy, based almost entirely on morphological characters, needs extensive revision. Terrestrial isopods present a number of unique adaptations to life on land, some of which result from what can be considered as pre-adaptations of ancestral marine isopods, such as egg development in a marsupium, being dorso-ventrally oblate and having a pleopodal respiration. Other crucial adaptations of Oniscidea include the water-conducting system, the structure of their cuticle, and the “covered” type of pleopodal lungs, all of which are responses to the acute problem of desiccation. They are also among the most speciose taxa in caves, some species have even returned to an aquatic life, and a few species have evolved social behavior. Oniscidea are increasingly being used in biogeographical, phylogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary research and can become model organisms for a broad range of biological studies.

scholarly journals Archaeal cell biology: diverse functions of tubulin-like cytoskeletal proteins at the cell envelope

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liao ◽  
Solenne Ithurbide ◽  
Roshali T. de Silva ◽  
Susanne Erdmann ◽  
Iain G. Duggin
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Shape Control ◽  
Cell Envelope ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Halophilic Archaea ◽  
Cytoskeletal Proteins ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Peptidoglycan Cell Wall ◽  
Domains Of Life

The tubulin superfamily of cytoskeletal proteins is widespread in all three domains of life — Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya. Tubulins build the microtubules of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton, whereas members of the homologous FtsZ family construct the division ring in prokaryotes and some eukaryotic organelles. Their functions are relatively poorly understood in archaea, yet these microbes contain a remarkable diversity of tubulin superfamily proteins, including FtsZ for division, a newly described major family called CetZ that is involved in archaeal cell shape control, and several other divergent families of unclear function that are implicated in a variety of cell envelope-remodelling contexts. Archaeal model organisms, particularly halophilic archaea such as Haloferax volcanii, have sufficiently developed genetic tools and we show why their large, flattened cells that are capable of controlled differentiation are also well suited to cell biological investigations by live-cell high-resolution light and electron microscopy. As most archaea only have a glycoprotein lattice S-layer, rather than a peptidoglycan cell wall like bacteria, the activity of the tubulin-like cytoskeletal proteins at the cell envelope is expected to vary significantly, and may involve direct membrane remodelling or directed synthesis or insertion of the S-layer protein subunits. Further studies of archaeal cell biology will provide fresh insight into the evolution of cells and the principles in common to their fundamental activities across the full spectrum of cellular life.

scholarly journals A Compass To Boost Navigation: Cell Biology of Bacterial Magnetotaxis

2020 ◽  
Vol 202 (21) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Müller ◽  
Dirk Schüler ◽  
Daniel Pfeiffer
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Magnetotactic Bacteria ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Complex Cell ◽  
Magnetite Biomineralization ◽  
Directed Motility ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Magnetotactic bacteria are aquatic or sediment-dwelling microorganisms able to take advantage of the Earth’s magnetic field for directed motility. The source of this amazing trait is magnetosomes, unique organelles used to synthesize single nanometer-sized crystals of magnetic iron minerals that are queued up to build an intracellular compass. Most of these microorganisms cannot be cultivated under controlled conditions, much less genetically engineered, with only few exceptions. However, two of the genetically amenable Magnetospirillum species have emerged as tractable model organisms to study magnetosome formation and magnetotaxis. Recently, much has been revealed about the process of magnetosome biogenesis and dedicated structures for magnetosome dynamics and positioning, which suggest an unexpected cellular intricacy of these organisms. In this minireview, we summarize new insights and place the molecular mechanisms of magnetosome formation in the context of the complex cell biology of Magnetospirillum spp. First, we provide an overview on magnetosome vesicle synthesis and magnetite biomineralization, followed by a discussion of the perceptions of dynamic organelle positioning and its biological implications, which highlight that magnetotactic bacteria have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to construct, incorporate, and inherit a unique navigational device. Finally, we discuss the impact of magnetotaxis on motility and its interconnection with chemotaxis, showing that magnetotactic bacteria are outstandingly adapted to lifestyle and habitat.

Basic cell biology

2013 ◽  
pp. 75-98
Author(s):  
Lesley H. Greene ◽  
Gilbert Shama
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Basic Cell
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