SPECIALIZED STRUCTURE IN THE REGION OF THE FLAGELLA TUFT IN SPIRILLUM SERPENS

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Abstract
Sections of Vestopal embeddings stained with uranyl acetate show that the flagella originate within the plasma membrane of Spirillum serpens. The tuft or bundle of flagella originate as a knob just inside the plasma membrane and pass through the membranes individually but in a defined area. Immediately surrounding this area, and extending over the rest of the end of the cell, a fine polar membrane lies parallel to and about 200 Å inside a somewhat accentuated plasma membrane and the two are linked by delicate bars. Over this region the outer portion of the cell wall loses its usual waviness; under this region the ribosomes in the cytoplasm do not approach as closely as they do to the peripheral plasma membrane, and this retreat is even more extensive in the central portion beneath the area of insertion. The central portion is generally free of membranous organelles and of nucleoplasms; mesosomes or membranous intrusions are commonly found outside the outer border of the polar membrane. The degree of extension of the flagella bases and connection with the described structures remain unknown.

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