Organization of interphase microtubules in fission yeast analyzed by electron tomography.
Höög JL, Schwartz C, Noon AT, O'Toole ET, Mastronarde DN, McIntosh JR, Antony C.
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cell Biology and Biophysics Program, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Polarized cells, such as neuronal, epithelial, and fungal cells, all display a specialized organization of their microtubules (MTs). The interphase MT cytoskeleton of the rod-shaped fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, has been extensively described by fluorescence microscopy. Here, we describe a large-scale, electron tomography investigation of S. pombe, including a 3D reconstruction of a complete eukaryotic cell volume at sufficient resolution to show both how many MTs there are in a bundle and their detailed architecture. Most cytoplasmic MTs are open at one end and capped at the other, providing evidence about their polarity. Electron-dense bridges between the MTs themselves and between MTs and the nuclear envelope were frequently observed. Finally, we have investigated structure/function relationships between MTs and both mitochondria and vesicles. Our analysis shows that electron tomography of well-preserved cells is ideally suited for describing fine ultrastructural details that were not visible with previous techniques.
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PMID: 17336902 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]