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. 1999 Jan;10(1):1-4.
doi: 10.1091/mbc.10.1.1.

Rotation of the central pair microtubules in eukaryotic flagella

C K Omoto  1 , I R Gibbons, R Kamiya, C Shingyoji, K Takahashi, G B Witman
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Rotation of the central pair microtubules in eukaryotic flagella

C K Omoto et al. Mol Biol Cell. 1999 Jan.
Free PMC article
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Dark-field images of M. pusilla, a small alga that swims using an unusual flagellum with a very short 9 + 2 region and a long extension of the central pair microtubules. These movies were originally taken on 16-mm film using dark-field optics. The negatives were converted to video format; thus the cell appears dark against a light background. (A) Movie 1 shows a free-swimming M. pusilla being propelled by a rotating helical central pair of microtubules (∼600-kb QuickTime movie). (B) Movie 2 shows a M. pusilla stuck by its flagellum and the cell body rotating (∼1-Mb QuickTime movie).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Movie 3 shows central pair rotation in a demembranated Chlamydomonas cell model at pCa6 with the central pair rotating and extruding. Dark-field images were taken with a silicon intensified target camera. Because a mirror was inserted between the ocular and camera, the image is a mirror image. Note that the cell body is rotated by the frictional force between the rotating central pair and the surface of the glass slide (∼430-kb QuickTime movie).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Movies 4 (A) and 5 (B) show detached Chlamydomonas axonemes reactivated at pCa4. Note the extrusion and rotation of the central pair microtubules (∼610- and ∼530-kb QuickTime movies).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Movie 6 shows a sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus sperm with its head held in the tip of a vibrating micropipette (top center) while the plane of pipette vibration is rotated. The first part (∼1 s) shows the planar bending of the sperm flagellum before vibration begins. The second part (∼1 min 20 s) shows the pipette tip vibrating; the bending plane of the flagellum rotates along with the plane of pipette vibration as the latter is rotated several complete revolutions. In the third part (∼15 s), the vibration is stopped abruptly; the flagellar bend plane then rotates spontaneously back to its original orientation. This rotation is fast at first and slows down for the last rotations (∼5.9-Mb QuickTime movie).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Images of demembranated sea urchin sperm with a bead attached on one side of the flagellar axoneme. Two different sperm are shown in A and B, before rotation (left panel) and after imposed vibration that rotates the bending plane 90° (middle panel) and 180° (right panel). The bead remains below or above the axoneme in A and B, respectively, regardless of the orientation of the bending plane. This demonstrates that the cage of nine doublet microtubules forming the outer cylinder of the axoneme remains untwisted during the rotation of the bend plane.
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