Cytoskeletal 10 nm filaments in cells of the algal phyla Chlorophyta, Charophyta, and Chrysophyta and their developmentally regulated and species-specific association with prosomes.

ABSTRACT

10 nm diameter filaments were observed in whole-mount preparations of algae of diverse phyla Acetabularia acetabulum and A. major (Chlorophyta), Chara australis and Nitella flexilis (Charophyta), and Poterioochromonas malhamensis (Chrysophyta). A polyclonal antibody raised against a basic, 50 kDa DNA-binding protein of A. acetabulum stains the filaments of A. acetabulumand and A. major as well as of C. australis and N. flexilis. While in the perinuclear region of A. acetabulumand and A. major and throughout the cytoplasm of P. malhamensis the 10 nm filaments have a smooth appearance, in the stalk of A. acetabulumand and A. major they are densely covered by globular structures; in C. australis and N. flexilis they are less frequently associated with such material. The morphology of a part of the globular particles is quite reminiscent of prosomes. A monoclonal antibody elicited against prosomes isolated from A. acetabulum indeed decorates the globular particles on the A. acetabulum and A. major filaments. The possible role of these filament-particle associations is discussed.