Biomaterial Database

A mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that lacks the flagellar outer dynein arm but can swim. 1985

R Kamiya, and M Okamoto

A new type of Chlamydomonas mutant, which lacks the outer dynein arm but can swim, was isolated. Sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that four of the ten high-molecular-weight bands of dynein present in the wild-type axoneme are missing or diminished in the mutant axoneme. The mutant has a swimming rate of about 35 micrometers/s and a flagellar beat frequency of about 25 Hz, both of which are about 1/2.5 to 1/3 of those of the wild type. The mutant flagella beat with an asymmetric, cilia-type pattern, similar to the forward-swimming mode of the flagellar beating pattern of the wild type. However, unlike wild-type flagella, the mutant flagella never beat with a symmetrical waveform: when the cells were stimulated by intense light, the mutant transiently stopped beating its flagella, whereas the wild-type cell transiently swam backwards with the two flagella beating with a symmetrical waveform. Both wild-type and mutant cells could be demembranated by Nonidet P40 and their swimming reactivated by addition of Mg-ATP in the virtual absence of Ca2+. Double reciprocal plots of the beat frequency against ATP concentrations showed a linear relationship for both strains, yielding maximal frequencies of 44 Hz (wild-type) and 23 Hz (mutant). The mutant axonemes can be reactivated only when the Ca2+ concentration is lower than 10(-6) M: at pCa4, the wild-type axonemes beat with a symmetrical waveform, but the mutant axonemes showed no movement. These findings indicate that the outer dynein arm is dispensable for flagellar beating of the asymmetric waveform (forward-swimming mode), but not for beating of the symmetrical waveform (backward-swimming mode), and thus suggest the importance of the outer dynein arm in the switching of flagellar waveforms.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008854	Microscopy, Electron	Microscopy using an electron beam, instead of light, to visualize the sample, thereby allowing much greater magnification. The interactions of ELECTRONS with specimens are used to provide information about the fine structure of that specimen. In TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY the reactions of the electrons that are transmitted through the specimen are imaged. In SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY an electron beam falls at a non-normal angle on the specimen and the image is derived from the reactions occurring above the plane of the specimen.	Electron Microscopy
D009154	Mutation	Any detectable and heritable change in the genetic material that causes a change in the GENOTYPE and which is transmitted to daughter cells and to succeeding generations.	Mutations
D002696	Chlamydomonas	A genus GREEN ALGAE in the order VOLVOCIDA. It consists of solitary biflagellated organisms common in fresh water and damp soil.	Chlamydomona
D004591	Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel	Electrophoresis in which a polyacrylamide gel is used as the diffusion medium.	Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis,SDS-PAGE,Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-PAGE,Gel Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide,SDS PAGE,Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate PAGE,Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-PAGEs
D005407	Flagella	A whiplike motility appendage present on the surface cells. Prokaryote flagella are composed of a protein called FLAGELLIN. Bacteria can have a single flagellum, a tuft at one pole, or multiple flagella covering the entire surface. In eukaryotes, flagella are threadlike protoplasmic extensions used to propel flagellates and sperm. Flagella have the same basic structure as CILIA but are longer in proportion to the cell bearing them and present in much smaller numbers. (From King & Stansfield, A Dictionary of Genetics, 4th ed)	Flagellum
D013550	Swimming	An activity in which the body is propelled through water by specific movement of the arms and/or the legs. Swimming as propulsion through water by the movement of limbs, tail, or fins of animals is often studied as a form of PHYSICAL EXERTION or endurance.