Microscopic techniques used for the study of cell cortex architecture in gregarines
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Gregarines, members of the group Apicomplexa, represent unicellular organisms, parasitising wide range of invertebrate hosts. Their cell cortex consists of outer plasma membrane covering cell surface under which closely apposed alveoli (inner membrane complex; IMC) are located. Electron (scanning and transmission) and confocal microscopic analyses were performed to determine morphology, ultrastructural organisation and biochemical nature of cortical compartments in eugregarine Gregarina garnhami parasitising intestine of desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. Pellicle, covering the surface of gregarine, creates numerous epicytic folds arranged in longitudinal lines separated by grooves. At the bottom of the grooves, micropores (large-sized pores) together with medium-sized pores were detected. Moreover, the fracture faces of IMC revealed the presence of medium and small-sized pores in the lateral part of epicytic folds. Pores were distributed irregularly. Analysis of the supramolecular organisation of the plasma membrane and both cytomembranes performed by freeze-etching analysis showed that the density of intramembranous particles (IMPs) was high and their size varied in the range from 0.5 to 17.4 nm, depending on the membrane and its fractured face. Under the pellicle, the net of filamentous structures (ectoplasmic network and myonemes - F-actin of origin) occurred in perpendicular and circular orientation to longitudinal cell axis. |
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