The structure of the diatom Thalassiosira fluviatilis

1968 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1049-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. E. Dweltz ◽  
J. Ross Colvin

The structure of the diatom, Thalassiosira fluviatilis, was investigated by a study with the electron microscope of thin sections of cells fixed by OsO4, KMnO4, and glutaraldehyde. The weakly siliceous cell wall is composed of a thin sheet perforated by holes about 250 Å in diameter and arranged in a roughly orthogonal manner. At the ends of the barrel-shaped cell are marginal and central pores composed of an outer cylinder (0.25 μ in diameter and 1 μ long) arranged coaxially with an inner, smaller, shorter cylinder. The thin, perforated sheet (valve) which connects these pores is reinforced from place to place by radial or transverse ribs.Mitochondria, nuclei, chloroplasts, and pyrenoids have the same general structure and appearance as those in other diatoms. Small vacuoles are numerous but it is not known whether they are filled with gas or solution. The cells often show aggregates of an amorphous material which does not stain like lipid or protein but which may be the residue of a gelatinous, reserve carbohydrate (chrysolaminarin).

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 1266-1275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susette C. Mueller ◽  
Gordon A. Maclachlan

Radioautographic experiments were carried out using pea stem slices to determine the site of glucose incorporation from UDP-glucose. Cut or damaged pea stem cells were the only cells to incorporate [3H]glucose from UDP-[3H]glucose. The product formed at 20 μM UDP-glucose was observed in electron microscope thin sections in patches on the plasma membrane and the cell wall. The product formed at 5 mM UDP-glucose occurred in fibrillar bundles that stretched between the plasma membrane and the cell wall. This periplasmic material fluoresced when stained with aniline blue. Experiments in which slices were subjected to sequential incubations in radioactive 5 mM UDP-glucose followed by unlabelled 5 mM UDP-glucose, or incubations in the reverse order, indicated that incorporation of [3H]glucose into products insoluble in chloroform:methanol:water or hot water occurs at the plasma membrane, and radioactivity is displaced from the membrane by subsequent incubations. A similar experiment, in which slices were first incubated in radioactive 20 μM UDP-glucose followed by unlabelled 5 mM UDP-glucose, indicated that the synthesis of fibrillar material from 5 mM UDP-glucose displaces the labelled product that had been formed from 20 μM UDP-glucose. It is concluded that only cut or damaged pea stem cells utilize UDP-glucose and the plasma membrane enzymes that incorporate [3H]glucose from 20 μM or 5 mM UDP-[3H]glucose are in close physical proximity.


1963 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan W. Drum

The cytoplasmic fine structure of the motile, pennate diatom, Nitzschia palea was studied in thin sections viewed in the electron microscope. The cells were fixed in OsO4, embedded in methacrylate, and immersed in 10 per cent hydrofluoric acid (HF) for 36 to 40 hours to remove the siliceous cell wall prior to sectioning. The HF treatment did not cause any obvious cytoplasmic damage. The dictyosome complex is perinuclear, and located only in the central cytoplasm. Mitochondria are sparse in the central cytoplasm, but abundant in the peripheral cytoplasm, and fill many of the transvacuolar cytoplasmic strands. Characteristic, amorphous oil bodies fill certain cytoplasmic strands and probably are not leucosin. The pyrenoid appears to be membrane limited, and oil droplets are found adjacent to the pyrenoid. The pyrenoid of another diatom, Cymbella affinis, is also membrane-limited. The membrane limiting the pyrenoid may be a composite of the terminal portions of chloroplast discs, facilitating rapid movement of photosynthate into the pyrenoid matrix, where the characteristic oil droplets may be formed. Carinal fibrils are found singly in each carinal pore, and may be involved in the locomotion of Nitzschia palea.


1966 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1125-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Reyn ◽  
A. Birch-Andersen ◽  
S. P. Lapage

The line structure of Haemophilus vaginalis (Gardner and Dukes 1955) was compared with that of four, possibly related species (Butyribacterium rettgeri, Corynebacterium diphtheriae var. mitis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Haemophilus influenzae) and an unrelated species, Neisseria haemolysans, which had shown a similar degree of Gram-variability as that of H. vaginalis. Although H. vaginalis was first described as a Gram-negative rod, its fine structure, particularly that of cell wall and septa, was more like that of Gram-positive organisms. Also N. haemolysans had a fine structure close to that of Gram-positive organisms, and its typical Gram-positive cell wall varied in. thickness from one cell to another.The study did not solve the problem of the classification of the so-called H. vaginalis, but the appearance of the few strains studied in the electron microscope suggests that it: should be included in Corynebacterium or Butyribacterium rather than in Lactobacillus.


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.


1974 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.-D. Tauschel ◽  
Judith F. M. Hoeniger

The morphology of the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strain P18aF1 1.2 has been investigated with the electron microscope. The cells grow by budding, the sessile buds eventually separating from the mother cells by constriction. In some dividing stages a belt-like structure was observed in the zone of division. Motile cells possess a subpolar tuft of unsheathed flagella. At the site of insertion of the flagella, the cell wall bears 12- to 14-nm wide holes or annuli through which the flagella probably pass. Motile cells readily lose their flagella.The structure of the surface revealed two distinct types: cells with a hexagonally patterned outer layer composed of ring-shaped elements and cells possessing a thick, fibrous capsule. Thin sections showed a well-developed thylakoid system arranged in piles and similar to that of other budding photosynthetic bacteria.The morphology of R. acidophila has been compared with that of R. palustris to show similarities and differences between the two species.


Author(s):  
L. V. Leak

Electron microscopic observations of freeze-fracture replicas of Anabaena cells obtained by the procedures described by Bullivant and Ames (J. Cell Biol., 1966) indicate that the frozen cells are fractured in many different planes. This fracturing or cleaving along various planes allows one to gain a three dimensional relation of the cellular components as a result of such a manipulation. When replicas that are obtained by the freeze-fracture method are observed in the electron microscope, cross fractures of the cell wall and membranes that comprise the photosynthetic lamellae are apparent as demonstrated in Figures 1 & 2.A large portion of the Anabaena cell is composed of undulating layers of cytoplasm that are bounded by unit membranes that comprise the photosynthetic membranes. The adjoining layers of cytoplasm are closely apposed to each other to form the photosynthetic lamellae. Occassionally the adjacent layers of cytoplasm are separated by an interspace that may vary in widths of up to several 100 mu to form intralamellar vesicles.


Author(s):  
Manfred E. Bayer

Bacterial viruses adsorb specifically to receptors on the host cell surface. Although the chemical composition of some of the cell wall receptors for bacteriophages of the T-series has been described and the number of receptor sites has been estimated to be 150 to 300 per E. coli cell, the localization of the sites on the bacterial wall has been unknown.When logarithmically growing cells of E. coli are transferred into a medium containing 20% sucrose, the cells plasmolize: the protoplast shrinks and becomes separated from the somewhat rigid cell wall. When these cells are fixed in 8% Formaldehyde, post-fixed in OsO4/uranyl acetate, embedded in Vestopal W, then cut in an ultramicrotome and observed with the electron microscope, the separation of protoplast and wall becomes clearly visible, (Fig. 1, 2). At a number of locations however, the protoplasmic membrane adheres to the wall even under the considerable pull of the shrinking protoplast. Thus numerous connecting bridges are maintained between protoplast and cell wall. Estimations of the total number of such wall/membrane associations yield a number of about 300 per cell.


Author(s):  
E. B. Masurovsky ◽  
H. H. Benitez ◽  
M. R. Murray

Recent light- and electron microscope studies concerned with the effects of D2O on the development of chick sympathetic ganglia in long-term, organized culture revealed the presence of rod-like fibrillar formations, and associated granulofibrillar bodies, in the nuclei of control and deuterated neurons. Similar fibrillar formations have been reported in the nuclei of certain mammalian CNS neurons; however, related granulofibrillar bodies have not been previously described. Both kinds of intranuclear structures are observed in cultures fixed either in veronal acetate-buffered 2%OsO4 (pH 7. 4), or in 3.5% glutaraldehyde followed by post-osmication. Thin sections from such Epon-embedded cultures were stained with ethanolic uranyl acetate and basic lead citrate for viewing in the electron microscope.


Author(s):  
Roberta M. Bruck

An unusual structure in the cochlea is the spiral limbus; this periosteal tissue consists of stellate fibroblasts and collagenous fibers embedded in a translucent ground substance. The collagenous fibers are arranged in vertical columns (the auditory teeth of Haschke). Between the auditory teeth are interdental furrows in which the interdental cells are situated. These epithelial cells supposedly secrete the tectorial membrane.The fine structure of interdental cells in the rat was reported by Iurato (1962). Since the mouse appears to be different, a description of the fine structure of mouse interdental cells' is presented. Young adult C57BL/6J mice were perfused intervascularly with 1% paraformaldehyde/ 1.25% glutaraldehyde in .1M phosphate buffer (pH7.2-7.4). Intact cochlea were decalcified in .1M EDTA by the method of Baird (1967), postosmicated, dehydrated, and embedded in Araldite. Thin sections stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate were examined in a Phillips EM-200 electron microscope.


Author(s):  
J. Temple Black

Since its introduction by Fernandez-Moran, the diamond knife has gained wide spread usage as a common material for cutting of thin sections of biological and metallic materials into thin films for examination in the transmission electron microscope. With the development of high voltage E.M. and scanning transmission E.M., microtomy applications will become increasingly important in the preparation of specimens. For those who can afford it, the diamond knife will thus continue to be an important tool to accomplish this effort until a cheaper but equally strong and sharp tool is found to replace the diamond, glass not withstanding.In Figs. 1 thru 3, a first attempt was made to examine the edge of a used (β=45°) diamond knife by means of the scanning electron microscope. Because diamond is conductive, first examination was tried without any coating of the diamond. However, the contamination at the edge caused severe charging during imaging. Next, a thin layer of carbon was deposited but charging was still extensive at high magnification - high voltage settings. Finally, the knife was given a light coating of gold-palladium which eliminated the charging and allowed high magnification micrographs to be made with reasonable resolution.


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