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Alkali–metal (K and Cs) promotion for sticking of nitrogen oxide molecule (NO) on Si(100) has been studied using a molecular beam method combined with an Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and a laser ionization spectroscopy [resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI)]. The observed sticking probability S shows a good correlation with alkali coverage, indicating that the alkali promotion is local in nature. The decay of S as a function of NO dose as observed with AES shows an anticorrelation with the evolution of the direct-inelastic scattering intensity as obtained with REMPI. This fact is understood as follows: since the direct-inelastic scattering occurs mostly in a single collision process with the surface, local alkali promotion is realized in a single collision of the incident NO molecule with the alkali–metal adsorbates. The decay of S as a function of NO dose is then analyzed with a reaction cross section. The evaluated reaction cross sections are close to the area of the 2×1 unit cell, and thus the estimated reaction radii are almost equal to but somewhat larger than the covalent radius of a K atom, with a increasing trend with alkali coverage. The alkali promotion is explained in terms of local electron charge transfer from the nonionized alkali adatoms to the affinity level of NO molecules based on the adatom density of state around EF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourier transform and an image filtering technique were used for structural analysis of the pellicular strip in Euglena gracilis. Freeze-fracture images of a two-dimensional crystalline structure in the plasma membrane were taken from elongated and rounded cells. Their lattice constants were precisely determined from Fourier transform patterns, and masked filter images were generated. Although differences in their lattice constants could not be detected, the Fourier transform patterns showed a significant difference between these two stages of cell shape. In elongated cells, the pseudo-crystal lattice was generated in the half periodicity of the minor striation. In contrast, it disappeared when the cells became rounded. The filtered images confirmed the crystallographic disagreement between these two stages in cell shape, probably reflecting morphological changes of integrated plasma membrane particles. Four particles detected in a unit structure showed quite similar shapes across the pseudo-lattice in elongated cells, though a unit structure in rounded cells consisted of four heterogeneous particles with opaque boundaries. A 39 kDa integral plasma membrane protein (IP39) is known as a major component in the plasma membrane of E. gracilis. The compositions of monomeric and oligomeric forms of IP39 were determined in both elongated and rounded cells by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which showed the possibility that an oligomerization of IP39 proceeds during rounding-up movement of the cell. These morphological and stoichiometrical changes of the integrated plasma membrane proteins may suggest an active involvement in cell shape change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detergent-treated cell models of Euglena gracilis showed rounded-up movement of the cell body upon addition of ATP and Ca2+. Reactivation of the cell models was inhibited when the cell models had been treated with solutions containing >150 mM NaCl or >300 mM KC1. When the supernatant of salt-extracted cell models was subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, two distinctive bands of 120 and 160 kDa were found to be enriched. The cell membrane and associated cytoskeleton (pellicular complex) were isolated after treatment with salt solutions, and examined by electron microscopy to identify essential cortical structures required for reactivating rounding-up cell movement. Among three regularly arranged microtubules, only one and its associated structures were selectively dissolved from the pellicular strips, while the other pellicular elements remained intact. These structures were located in the groove region where sliding between strips is believed to occur during cell shape change. These results suggest a possible involvement of microtubule 2 and its associated bridges in active sliding between adjacent pellicular strips during euglenoid movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heliozoon Actinophrys sol is characterized by needle-like axopodia radiating from the spherical cell body. When helio-zoons capture food organisms, the prey is caught by adhesion to the surface of axopodia where numerous extrusomes are present close to the plasma membrane. To understand the molecular mechanism by which the heliozoons capture prey organisms, crude isolation and characterization of the adhesive substance was carried out. Prey flagellates ( Chlorogonium elongatum) adhered and aggregated to remnants of heliozoon cells which had been killed by freezing or treatment at high temperature (80 °C for 10 min). Isolated extrusomes, which were prepared as the supernatant of cells homogenized and centrifuged after freezing and thawing, showed strong adhesion to the prey flagellates which responded to the supernatant by adhering their flagella and cell bodies to each other to form bouquet-like cell clusters. The adhesive substance was further extracted from heat-treated A. sol. This fraction contained filamentous material similar to the secreted contents of the extrusomes observed during feeding. Its adhesive activity was not inhibited by trypsin treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell-to-cell interaction and spatial distribution of the heliozoan Actinophrys sol was analyzed with computer-aided video microscopy. By means of goodness-of-fit statistics (χ2 analysis) and a quadrat-count analysis ( Iδ-curve analysis), the spatial point pattern of the cells was shown to be of regular distribution, which implies that a regulating mechanism is operating to encourage an even spatial distribution of the cell centers of Actinophrys. An attempt was further made to define a unified model which fits Actinophrys cell distribution observed at different cell densities. For this purpose, the fitting of a parameterized potential function φ ( r)=(σ/r)12 was carried out, where r is the distance between cell centers of two neighboring cells. The scaling parameter a was estimated from the maximum likelihood procedure for obtaining the best fit for the data, which was found to be a decreasing function of the cell density; we obtained σ = 0.44 mm at a low cell density (0.5 cell/mm2) and σ=0.10 mm at the highest cell density (6.5 cells/mm2). These results suggest that (1) the possible nearest distance between two neighboring cells is primarily defined by the axopodial length, and (2) at lower cell densities, Actinophrys can recognize the presence of distant neighboring cells by some unknown means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in intracellular pH (pH) have been examined during zoosporogenesis in Phytophthora cinnamomi in order to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that bring about initiation of the orderly cleavage of the sporangium. By microinjecting a dextranconjugated pH-sensitive fluorescent indicator, 2′,7′-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF dextran), and using fluorescence ratio image analysis, the pH of a sporangium was monitored throughout the process of zoosporogenesis. The pH of mature sporangia was found to remain constant at pH 6.84 ± 0.05 (mean ± SE, n=6) at room temperature (24 °C), but increased to 7.04 ± 0.04 (p < 0.001) during a 20 min cold treatment at 19 °C. As the process of zoosporogenesis proceeded, the increased level of pH was maintained for 30-40 min after initiation of the cold shock. Zoosporogenesis was blocked when the pH of the sporangium was held constant by microinjecting with 10 mM HEPES buffer (pH 7.0) before cytoplasmic cleavage was induced by a cold shock. In contrast, no inhibitory effect was observed when sporangia were microinjected with HEPES buffer after the cold shock. These results indicate that initiation of cytoplasmic cleavage requires a rise in pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Euglena fusca, each pellicular strip carries a row of particles on its surface. The relative displacement of particles on adjacent strips was analysed by video-microscopy and evidence was obtained that adjacent pellicular strips slide relative to each other during euglenoid movement. E. fusca shows two types of euglenoid movement, oscillatory bending and rounding-up of the cell body. During oscillatory bending, the maximum velocity of sliding was 0.4 μm/s and the maximum displacement distance between adjacent strips 2.3 μm about their mean position. When E. fusca exhibited rounding-up of the cell body, particle displacement again occurred and the angle of the pellicular strips to the long axis of the cell body increased because of pellicular sliding. As a result the distance between the cell's anterior and posterior tips was reduced. There was no change in distance either between rows of particles or between particles within the same row. The findings are incompatible with theories of euglenoid movement requiring local contraction of pellicular strips and point to the likely existence of active sliding between adjacent strips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Euglenophytes are a group of photosynthetic flagellates possessing a plastid derived from a green algal endosymbiont, which was incorporated into an ancestral host cell via secondary endosymbiosis. However, the impact of endosymbiosis on the euglenophyte nuclear genome is not fully understood due to its complex nature as a 'hybrid' of a non-photosynthetic host cell and a secondary endosymbiont. Results We analyzed an EST dataset of the model euglenophyte Euglena gracilis using a gene mining program designed to detect laterally transferred genes. We found E. gracilis genes showing affinity not only with green algae, from which the secondary plastid in euglenophytes evolved, but also red algae and/or secondary algae containing red algal-derived plastids. Phylogenetic analyses of these 'red lineage' genes suggest that E. gracilis acquired at least 14 genes via eukaryote-to-eukaryote lateral gene transfer from algal sources other than the green algal endosymbiont that gave rise to its current plastid. We constructed an EST library of the aplastidic euglenid Peranema trichophorum, which is a eukaryovorous relative of euglenophytes, and also identified 'red lineage' genes in its genome. Conclusions Our data show genome mosaicism in E. gracilis and P. trichophorum. One possible explanation for the presence of these genes in these organisms is that some or all of them were independently acquired by lateral gene transfer and contributed to the successful integration and functioning of the green algal endosymbiont as a secondary plastid. Alternative hypotheses include the presence of a phagocytosed alga as the single source of those genes, or a cryptic tertiary endosymbiont harboring secondary plastid of red algal origin, which the eukaryovorous ancestor of euglenophytes had acquired prior to the secondary endosymbiosis of a green alga.