MASSIVE ACCUMULATIONS OF PROTEIN IN THE NUCLEI OF CORDYLOPHORA

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Spherical masses of non-histone protein unassociated with nucleic acid, lipid, or carbohydrate occur in most interphase epitheliomuscular and glandular cells in the hydroid Cordylophora. They are not found in nerve cells, interstitial cells, or cnidoblasts, but elsewhere they occur consistently in sexual and asexual, wild and cultured specimens. They are reduced or lost in starved specimens. The bodies reach diameters of over 5 μ, are composed of electron dense granules measuring 50–75 Å, and lack an enclosing membrane. They appear to find their nearest counterpart not in the secondary nucleoli of oocytes but in protein masses described in Natrix liver cells. It is suggested that they constitute a metabolic reserve.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: