The axonemes of Raphidiophrys converge near the center of the cell in an electron-opaque material, the centroplast. In order to establish whether this material acts not only to nucleate the microtubules which form the axonemes but also to give the axoneme its characteristic pattern, the microtubules were disassembled with low temperature and stages in their reformation were studied. It was shown that even though the microtubules appear to be nucleated from the centroplast, pattern formation first appeared at a distance from the centroplast. Thus, the axonemal pattern could not be attributed to any prepattern in the centroplast. Rather, the pattern appears to arise by specific interactions between tubules brought about by bridges. It was concluded that each tubule could bind to a maximum of four other tubules and that once one bridge attached to a tubule it specified the binding positions of the others, thus giving the characteristic axonemal pattern of Raphidiophrys.
Article|
December 01 1971
HOW MICROTUBULE PATTERNS ARE GENERATED : The Relative Importance of Nucleation and Bridging of Microtubules in the Formation of the Axoneme of Raphidiophrys
Lewis G. Tilney
Lewis G. Tilney
From the Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
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Lewis G. Tilney
From the Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Received:
April 30 1971
Revision Received:
August 16 1971
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
Copyright © 1971 by The Rockefeller University Press
1971
J Cell Biol (1971) 51 (3): 837–854.
Article history
Received:
April 30 1971
Revision Received:
August 16 1971
Citation
Lewis G. Tilney; HOW MICROTUBULE PATTERNS ARE GENERATED : The Relative Importance of Nucleation and Bridging of Microtubules in the Formation of the Axoneme of Raphidiophrys . J Cell Biol 1 December 1971; 51 (3): 837–854. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.51.3.837
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