Molecules within cells are segregated into functional domains to form various organelles. While some of those organelles delimited by lipid membranes demarcating their constituents, others lack a membrane enclosure. Recently, liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) revolutionized our view how segregation macromolecules can produce membraneless the concept LLPS has been well studied in areas soft ...

Knowledge of the subcellular localization of proteins is indispensable to understand their physiological roles. In the past decade, 18 studies have been performed to analyze the protein content of isolated organelles from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we integrate the data sets and compare them with other large scale studies on protein localization and abundance. We evaluate the completeness ...

Peter Rehling is professor and chair of biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Göttingen and the director of the Department for Biochemistry II. His laboratory studies the biogenesis of mitochondria, in particular the molecular mechanism by which proteins are translocated across the mitochondrial membranes and how they assemble into membrane protein complexes. In all cellu...

Previous work suggests that organelles contacting microtubules in axons are in fast transport. Here, we examine the distribution of organelles contacting microtubules in growing axons and growth cones from chick optic tectum. Five axon segments, each 10 microns long, and 4 entire growth cones were reconstructed from serial electron micrographs of quick-frozen, freeze-substituted chick optic tec...

Actin is implicated in membrane fusion, but the precise mechanisms remain unclear. We showed earlier that membrane organelles catalyze the de novo assembly of F-actin that then facilitates the fusion between latex bead phagosomes and a mixture of early and late endocytic organelles. Here, we correlated the polymerization and organization of F-actin with phagosome and endocytic organelle fusion ...

Transient shape changes of organelles translocating along microtubules are directly visualized in thinly spread cytoplasmic processes of the marine foraminifer. Allogromia laticollaris, by a combination of high-resolution video-enhanced microscopy and fast-freezing electron microscopy. The interacting side of the organelle flattens upon binding to a microtubule, as if to maximize contact with i...

There's DNA in those organelles ractionation experiments in the early 1960s suggested that certain organelles may contain DNA (see Gibor and Granick, 1964, for review), but varying levels of nuclear contamination marred those results. Meanwhile, oddities in genetic transmission chipped away at the nucleus-only theory of genetic inheritance. But it took direct visualization to convince most skep...

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) such as perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) are stable chemicals that accumulate in biological matrix. Toxicity of these compounds including immunotoxicity has been demonstrated in experimental models and wildlife. Although limited number of studies examined the effects of PFOS on human lymphocytes but so far no research has investigated the complete mechanisms of PF...

1. The carnivorous ciliate Didinium nasutum discharged its extrusive organelles when a strong inward current was injected into the cell in the presence of external Ca ions. 2. In the absence of external Ca ions, the strong inward current produced fusion of the apex membrane of the proboscis. 3. External application of Ca ions after the fusion of the apex membrane produced discharge of the organ...