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PMID: 4805001 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Microtubules: evidence for 13 protofilaments.

The Journal of cell biology ·Vol. 59 ·No. 2 Pt 1 ·1973-11-00 ·Pages 267-75

Tilney LG, Bryan J, Bush DJ, Fujiwara K, Mooseker MS, Murphy DB, Snyder DH

Abstract

When microtubules are fixed in glutaraldehyde in the presence of tannic acid and thin sections cut, the subunit structure of the microtubule is readily observed without the need of image reinforcement. Seven types of microtubules were analyzed: those in the heliozoan axoneme, the mitotic apparatus, the contractile axostyle, repolymerized microtubules derived from the chick brain, the central pair in flagella, and the A tubules of flagella and the basal body. In all cases microtubules were composed of 13 equally spaced protofilaments. The B tubules in flagella and the basal body appear to be composed of 11 subunits. The connections of the B to the A and the C to the B are described. A model of a microtubule is presented.

MeSH Terms
Animals Brain/ultrastructure Chick Embryo Echinodermata/ultrastructure Eukaryota/ultrastructure Flagella/ultrastructure Male Microscopy, Electron Microtubules/ultrastructure Mitosis Models, Molecular Molecular Conformation Sea Urchins/ultrastructure Spermatozoa/ultrastructure
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Tilney L G
Bryan J
Bush D J
Fujiwara K
Mooseker M S
Murphy D B
Snyder D H
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24 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
The Journal of cell biology
Abbr.
J Cell Biol
ISSN
0021-9525
DOI
10.1083/jcb.59.2.267
Published
1973-11-00
Pages
267-75
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0375356
PMCID
PMC2109099
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1083/jcb.59.2.267 PMC Full Text View journal details
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