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Organization of actin filaments and immunocolocalization of alpha‐actinin in the connecting cilium of rat photoreceptors
Author(s) -
Arikawa Kentaro,
Williams David S.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.902880410
Subject(s) - biology , cilium , actin , microbiology and biotechnology , actinin , neuroscience , actina , alpha (finance) , cytoskeleton , anatomy , biophysics , genetics , cell , medicine , construct validity , nursing , patient satisfaction
A small discrete concentration of actin filaments in the connecting cilium of vertebrate photoreceptors appears to have a role in the morphogenesis of the phototransductive disk membranes (Williams et al., '88). We have visualized these actin filaments in rat rod photoreceptors by decorating them with myosin subfragment‐1. At the site of disk morphogenesis, we observed a cluster of short filaments, with various orientations and their faster growing (barbed) ends at the ciliary plasma membrane. Their association with the liplike structure of an early nascent disk is consistent with their apparent involvement in the initiation of disk môrphogenesis. A few longer decorated filaments extended along the core of the connecting cilium, away from the site of disk morphogenesis, implying that they might have some function other than the shaping of a new disk. Most of the antiactin label was found in the region of the short filaments. The alpha‐actinin immunolabel coincided with that of actin, suggesting that the filaments may be crosslinked by alpha‐actinin.