microtubule organizing center

Examples of microtubule organizing center in the following topics:

• Centrosome

  • The centrosome is an organelle that is the main microtubule organizing center of the animal cell and a regulator of cell-cycle progression.
  • In cell biology, the centrosome is an organelle that serves as the main microtubule organizing center (MTOC) of the animal cell as well as a regulator of cell-cycle progression.
  • Fungi and plants use other MTOC structures to organize their microtubules.
  • Unlike centrioles, centrosomes are required for survival of the organism.
  • Microtubules are anchored at the centrosomes.

• Replicative Cycle of Influenza A

  • It is known that virions converge to the microtubule organizing center, interact with acidic endosomes, and finally enter the target endosomes for genome release.

• Fluorescence Microscopy

  • Staining organisms with these special dyes reduces the non-specific autofluorescence that some organisms can emit.
  • Cells or organisms stained with fluorochromes appear colored against a dark background when fixed on a glass slide .
  • Nuclei are stained blue with DAPI, microtubules are stained green by an antibody bound to FITC and actin filaments are labelled red with phalloidin bound to TRITC.

• Reporter Fusions

  • Certain genes are chosen as reporters because the characteristics they confer on organisms expressing them are easily identified and measured, or because they are selectable markers.
  • Reporter genes are often used as an indication of whether a certain gene has been taken up by or expressed in the cell or organism population.
  • To introduce a reporter gene into an organism, scientists place the reporter gene and the gene of interest in the same DNA construct to be inserted into the cell or organism.
  • Reporter genes can also be used to assay for the expression of the gene of interest, which may produce a protein that has little obvious or immediate effect on the cell culture or organism.
  • In this cell a microtubule protein is fused to GFP (green) while a histone protein is fused to RFP (red).

• Double-Stranded DNA Viruses: Adenoviruses

  • With the help of cellular microtubules, the virus is transported to the nuclear pore complex, where viral gene expression can occur.
  • Specific modifications on fiber proteins are used to target Adenovirus to certain cell types; a major effort is made to limit hepatotoxicity and prevent multiple organ failure.

• Chloroflexus and Relatives

  • Chloroflexus are Gram-negative filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic organisms that utilize type II photosynthetic reaction centers.
  • This organism is thermophilic and can grow at temperatures from 35 °C to 70 °C.
  • As a genus, Chloroflexus spp. are Gram-negative filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic (FAP) organisms that utilize type II photosynthetic reaction centers containing bacteriochlorophyll a similar to the purple bacteria, and light-harvesting chlorosomes containing bacteriochlorophyll c similar to green sulfur bacteria of the Chlorobi.
  • This organism is thermophilic and can grow at temperatures from 35 °C to 70 °C.
  • Chloroflexus aurantiacus has been of interest in the search for origins of the so-called type II photosynthetic reaction center.

• Benzoate Catabolism

  • Rhodobacter sphaeroides is able to produce hydrogen from a wide range of organic compounds (chiefly organic acids) and light.
  • The purple non-sulphur (PNS) bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides is able to produce hydrogen from a wide range of organic compounds (chiefly organic acids) and light.
  • The photo-system required for hydrogen production in Rhodobacter (PS-I) differ from its oxygenic photosystem (PS-II) due to the requirement of organic acids and the inability to oxidize water.
  • An example of this is the use of Rhodococcus to produce indene, a precursor to the AIDS drug CrixivanTM, a protease inhibitor, and containing two of the five chiral centers needed in the complex.
  • Rhodococcus sp. strain Q1 grown on quinoline - the organism can use quinoline as a sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy, tolerating concentrations up to 3.88 millimoles per liter.

• Ocean Floor

  • Ocean floor extremophile chemosynthetic microbes provide energy and carbon to the other organisms in these environments.
  • Microbes, especially bacteria, often engage in symbiotic relationships (either positive or negative) with other organisms, and these relationships affect the ecosystem.
  • In such zones, chemosynthetic microbes provide energy and carbon to the other organisms.
  • Other microbes are decomposers, with the ability to recycle nutrients from other organisms' waste poducts.
  • Hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridge spreading centers act as oases, as do their opposites, cold seeps.

• Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria

  • Phototrophy is the process by which organisms trap light energy (photons) and store it as chemical energy in the form of ATP and/or reducing power in NADPH.
  • When light is absorbed by the reaction center, P840 enters an excited state with a large negative reduction potential, and so readily donates the electron to bacteriochlorophyll 663 which passes it on down the electron chain.
  • The green sulfur bacterias' small dependence on organic molecule transporters and transcription factors indicates that these organisms are adapted to a narrow range of energy-limited conditions, and fit into an ecology shared with the simpler cyanobacteria,
  • The electron transport chain of purple non-sulfur bacteria begins when the reaction center bacteriochlorophyll pair, P870, becomes excited by the absorption of light.
  • The electron returns to P870 at the end of the chain so it can be used again once light excites the reaction-center.

• Amoebic Meningoencephalitis

  • The organism specifically prefers temperatures above 32 °C, as might be found in a tropical climate or in water heated by geothermal activity.
  • The organism is extremely sensitive to chlorine (<0.5 ppm).
  • Exposure to the organism is extremely common due to its wide distribution in nature.
  • Michael Beach, a recreational waterborne-illness specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated in remarks to the Associated Press that the wearing of nose-clips to prevent nasal uptake of contaminated water would be an effective protection against contracting PAM, noting that, "You'd have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with".
  • Antibody detection (green) of Naegleria fowleri, the organism responsible for Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).