Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (133)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (133)
Year of publication
Document Type
- Journal article (107)
- Conference Proceeding (12)
- Book article / Book chapter (8)
- Review (5)
- Book (1)
Keywords
- Cytologie (13)
- Amphibian oocytes (3)
- Electron microscopy (3)
- electron microscopy (3)
- mitosis (3)
- Botanik (2)
- Chromatin structure (2)
- DNA (2)
- DNA antibodies (2)
- Lampbrush chromosomes (2)
Institute
- Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften (133) (remove)
Electron-opaque material is shown in the perinuclear cisternae of various cell types to connect the inner and outer nuclear membrane faces. Similar bridges were observed between the outer nuclear membrane and the outer mitochondrial membrane. The intracisternal bridges of the nuclear envelope appear to be important for the structural stability of the perinuclear cisterna. Stable structural linkage of mitochondria to the outer nuclear membrane might be relevant to the understanding of the characteristic juxtanuclear accumulation of mitochondria and also provide arguments for the discussions of certain biochemical activities found in nuclear and nuclear membrane fractions.
Primary (giant) nuclei of the green algae Acetabularia mediterranea and A. major were studied by light and electron microscopy using in situ fixed material as well as manually isolated nuclear components. In addition, cytochemical reactions of nuclear structures and biochemical determinations of nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA and of genome DNA content were performed. The data obtained and the structures observed are interpreted as demonstralions of transcriptional activities of different gene classes. The most prominent class is the nucleolar cistrons of precursors of ribosomal RNA which occur highly repeated in clusters in the form of regularly alternating intercepts on deoxyribonucleoprotein axes of transcribed rDNA, the fibril-covered matrix units, and the fibril-free "spacer" segments. A description and a classification of the various structural complexes which seem to represent transcriptional activities is given. Quantitative evaluations of these arrangements are presented. The morphology and the dimensions of such structures are compared with the RNA molecular weight determinations and with the corresponding data reported from various animal cell systems. It is suggested that the formation of the giant nucleus is correlated with, and probably due to, an enormous amplification of transcriptionally active rDNA and packing of the extrachromosomal copies into the large nucleolar aggregate bodies.
A small fraction of HeLa cells within an exponentially growing culture showed cisternal differentiations, such as cytoplasmic as well as intranuclear annulate lamellae and special smooth surfaced endoplasmic reticulum aggregates with a typical "Cotte de maillet" appearance. Additionally, clusters of dense granules were observed in the cytoplasm which were often associated with polysomes and strongly resembled the so-called "heavy bodies" known in particular in diverse oocytes. The functional meaning of these structures is discussed. Moreover, it is deduced from the ultrastructural identity of the pore complexes in the nuclear envelope and the cytoplasmic and intranuclear annulate lamellae that the pore complex material with its highly ordered arrangement is not a structure characteristic for nucleocytoplasmically migrating material, but rather is a general structural expression of a tight binding of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) to cisternal membranes. The pore complexes are thought of as representing sites of a RNP-storage. A similar functioning is hypothesized for the "heavy body"like aggregates. To the current hypotheses on the formation of annulate lamellae and the nuclear envelope, which are based on the concept of membrane continuities and constancies, the alternative view of a self assembly mechanism of membrane constituents on nucleoprotein structures is added.
No abstract available
After microinjection of antibodies against RNA polymerase I into the nuclei of cultured rat kangaroo (PtKz) and rat (RVF-SMC) cells alterations in nucleolar structure and composition were observed. These were detected by electron microscopy and double-label immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies to proteins representative of the three major components of the nucleolus. The microinjected antibodies produced a progressive loss of the material of the dense fibrillar component (DFC) from the nucleoli which, at 4 h after injection, were transformed into bodies with purely granular component (GC) structure with attached fibrillar centers (FCs). Concomitantly, numerous extranucleolar aggregates appeared in the nucleoplasm which morphologically resembled fragments of the DFC and contained a protein (fibrillarin) diagnostic for this nucleolar structure. These observations indicate that the topological distribution of the material constituting the DFC can be experimentally influenced in interphase cells, apparently by modulating the transcriptional activity of the rRNA genes. These effects are different from nucleolar lesions induced by inhibitory drugs such as actinomycin D-dependent "nucleolar segregation". The structural alterations induced by antibodies to RNA polymerase I resemble, however, the initial events of nucleolar disintegration during mitotic prophase.
Thin section electron microscopy of Actinomycin D treated Tetrahymena cells and amphibian oocytes (Xenopus laevis, Triturus aZpestris) reveal no reduction in the central granules in the nuclear pore complexes. Possible reasons for the diversity between these results and earlier observations using negatively stained isolated nuclear envelopes from the same objects are discussed. The results clearly show that the presence of central granules within the nuclear pores does neither depend on nuclear RNA synthesis nor does indicate nucleocytoplasmic RNA transport. This conclusion leads to a reconsideration of the nature of the central granule. The functioning of the central granule of the nuclear pore complexes is further discussed in connection with recent studies on the ultrastructure of various types of cisternal pores.