Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

2017

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications

Source Publication

eLife

Source ISSN

2050-084X

Abstract

Although microtubules are known for dynamic instability, the dynamicity is considered to be tightly controlled to support a variety of cellular processes. Yet diverse evidence suggests that this is not applicable to Chlamydomonas, a biflagellate fresh water green alga, but intense autofluorescence from photosynthesis pigments has hindered the investigation. By expressing a bright fluorescent reporter protein at the endogenous level, we demonstrate in real time discreet sweeping changes in algal microtubules elicited by rises of intracellular H+ and Na+. These results from this model organism with characteristics of animal and plant cells provide novel explanations regarding how pH may drive cellular processes; how plants may respond to, and perhaps sense stresses; and how organisms with a similar sensitive cytoskeleton may be susceptible to environmental changes.

Comments

Published version. eLife, (2017): e26002. DOI. © 2017 Liu et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Biology Commons

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