Premium
The contractile vacuole and its membrane dynamics
Author(s) -
Allen Richard D.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/1521-1878(200011)22:11<1035::aid-bies10>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - vacuole , organelle , contractile vacuole , cytosol , paramecium , atpase , biophysics , biology , membrane , v atpase , electrochemical gradient , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , cytoplasm , enzyme
The contractile vacuole (CV) is an osmoregulatory organelle whose mechanisms of function are poorly understood. Immunological studies in the last decade have demonstrated abundant proton‐translocating V‐type ATPases (V‐ATPases) in its membrane that could provide the energy, from proton electrochemical gradients, for moving ions into the CV to be followed by water. This review emphasizes recent work on the contractile vacuole complex (CVC) of Paramecium including (1) CV expulsion, (2) a role for V‐ATPases in sequestering fluid, (3) identifying ions in the cytosol and in the CV, (4) in situ electrophysiological parameters of the CVC membrane, and (5) a better understanding of the membrane dynamics of this organelle. BioEssays 22:1035–1042, 2000. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.