ULTRASTRUCTURE OF FRONTAL CAP OF MONOTACTIC FORMS OF AMOEBA-PROTEUS

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 17  (1) , 62-72
Abstract
The frontal cap of the monotactic form of A. proteus is separated from other cell components by a continuous structure defined as the membrane-like envelope (MLE). It originates from the membranes of cytoplasmic vesicles and vacuoles. The border zone between the cap and the cytoplasm is strongly vacuolized. Structural differences between frontal caps, depending on the degree of their development, indicated that the growing cap gradually filled up the whole tip of an advancing pseudopodium and at the front it reduced the cortical layer in the interstice between the MLE and the outer cell membrane, up to its eventual disruption. This is probably the efficient cause of the specific morphological and motor pattern of monotactic amoebae. These results and conclusions are supported by an ultrastructural analysis of the aritificial frontal caps obtained by injecting oil droplets into polytactic cells, a procedure transforming polytactic forms into forms morphodynamically analogous to the natural monotactic amoebae.

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