Document Sample
AMOEBA PROTEUS Powered By Docstoc

Published August 1, 1970

                     CYTOPLASMIC FILAMENTS OF
                    AMOEBA PROTEUS

                    I. The Role of Filaments in
                     Consistency Changes and Movement

                                 THOMAS D . POLLARD and SUSUMU ITO

                                 From the Department of Anatomy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts              02115.
                                 Dr. Pollard's present address is National Heart and Lung Institute, Section on Cellular

                                                                                                                                     Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                                 Biochemistry and Ultrastructure, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

                                 The role of filaments in consistency changes and movement in a motile cytoplasmic extract
                                 of Amoeba proteus was investigated by correlating light and electron microscopic observations
                                 with viscosity measurements . The extract is prepared by the method of Thompson and
                                 Wolpert (1963) . At 0 °C, this extract is nonmotile and similar in structure to ameba cyto-
                                 plasm, consisting of groundplasm, vesicles, mitochondria, and a few 160 A filaments . The
                                 extract undergoes striking ATP-stimulated streaming when warmed to 22 °C . Two phases
                                 of movement are distinguished . During the first phase, the apparent viscosity usually
                                 increases and numerous 50-70 A filaments appear in samples of the extract prepared for
                                 electron microscopy, suggesting that the increase in viscosity in caused, at least in part, by
                                 the formation of these thin filaments. During this initial phase of ATP-stimulated movement,
                                 these thin filaments are not detectable by phase-contrast or polarization microscopy, but
                                 later, in the second phase of movement, 70 A filaments aggregate to form birefringent micro-
                                 scopic fibrils . A preparation of pure groundplasm with no 160 A filaments or membranous
                                 organelles exhibits little or no ATP-stimulated movement, but 50-70 A filaments form and
                                 aggregate into birefringent fibrils . This observation and the structural relationship of the
                                 70 A and the 160 A filaments in the motile extract suggest that both types of filaments may
                                 be required for movement . These two types of filaments, 50-70 A and 160 A, are also
                                 present in the cytoplasm of intact amebas . Fixed cells could not be used to study the distribu-
                                 tion of these filaments during natural ameboid movement because of difficulties in preserving
                                 the normal structure of the ameba during preparation for electron microscopy .


                    Although cytoplasmic streaming is a basic property     thought most likely to produce movement are the
                    of cells, the mechanism of the movement of sub-        two types of cytoplasmic filaments : (a) hollow
                    cellular particles is not clearly understood . Since   filamentous microtubules, and (b) solid filaments,
                    cytoplasm isolated from animal and plant cells         which occur in several sizes . Microtubules serve a
                    exhibits independent motility (Thompson and            cytoskeletal function in many cells and have been
                    Wolpert, 1963 ; Jarosch, 1956), the motive force       implicated in some types of motility, such as the
                    must be generated in the cytoplasm . The structures    movement of chromosomes in the mitotic spindle

                    THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME 46, 1970,           pages 267-259                                    267

    Published August 1, 1970

                        and of pigment granules in melanophores (Porter,          structure (Allen, 1961), but no detailed studies on
                        1966) . As in the well studied contractile system of      the fine structure of the high and low consistency
                        muscle, morphological evidence suggests that solid        regions of the cytoplasm have been reported .
                        filaments may be involved in cytoplasmic move-               Nachmias (1964) first reported fibrillar cyto-
                        ments in many other cell types, including Physarum        plasmic structures in electron micrographs of
                        (Wohlfarth-Botterman, 1964), Nitella (Nagai and           Chaos carolinensis . Long, thin filaments, about 75 A
                        Rebhun, 1966), ascidian epidermal cells (Cloney,          in diameter, and thicker filaments, 150 A in di-
                        1966), cultured fibroblasts (Buckley and Porter,          ameter and up to 0 .5 p long, were seen in cells
                        1967), Difflugia (Wohlman and Allen, 1968) and            whose plasma membranes were torn before fixation
                        sea urchin mesenchymal cells (Tilney and Gibbins,         and in intact nonmotlie cells exposed to a pinocy-
                        1969) . This view has been strengthened by two            tosis-inducing solution .
                        lines of evidence : (a) the isolation of actin from           In a related study, Simard-Duquesne and
                        Physarum (Hatano and Oosawa, 1966), Acantha-              Couillard (1962) demonstrated that glycerinated
                        moeba (Weihing and Korn, 1969), and sea urchin            specimens of Amoeba proteus contract in the presence
                        eggs (Hatano, Kondo, and Miki-Noumura, 1969) ;            of ATP and magnesium . Schäfer-Danneel (1967)
                        and (b) the demonstration that muscle heavy               examined the fine structure of such cells and
                        meromyosin forms specific, ATP-dissociated, ar-           showed that a network of filaments 40-100 A in
                        rowhead-shaped complexes with thin filaments in           diameter associated with thicker filaments 160-220

                                                                                                                                          Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                        a variety of chick embryo cells (Ishikawa, Bischoff,      A in diameter becomes apparent during glycerin
                        and Holtzer, 1969) and in Acanthamoeba (Pollard,          extraction . ATP-induced contraction of these ex-
                        Shelton, Weihing, and Korn, 1970) which are               tracted amebas produced only a slight "condensa-
                        nearly identical with the complex between heavy           tion" of the filament network . She suggested that
                        meromyosin and actin filaments .                          the filaments play a role in the contraction of the
                           The closely related freshwater amebas, Amoeba          glycerinated amebas and that filaments may also
                        proteus and Chaos carolinensis, have been used ex-        be important for the movement of the living
                        tensively in studies of ameboid movement . Allen          ameba .
                        and his coworkers (Allen, 1961) determined that               A major advance in our understanding of the
                        the axial endoplasm of Chaos has a lower con-             mechanism of ameboid movement was the dis-
                        sistency than the ectoplasm .' The higher consist-        covery by Allen, Cooledge, and Hall (1960) that
                        ency ectoplasm had been designated the GEL and            particles in cytoplasm freed from Chaos carolinensis
                        the lower consistency endoplasm the SOL . This            had independent motility similar to the movement
                        terminology must be used cautiously, since Allen's        of particles in the intact cell . This approach was
                        studies have shown that the endoplasm is not a            carried further by Thompson and Wolpert (1963)
                        structureless SOL, but is a low consistency "gel ."       who described a cytoplasmic fraction from homog-
                        Although light microscope studies have not directly       enized Amoeba proteus which exhibited vigorous
                        demonstrated gel structures in the ectoplasm, the          movement when ATP or ADP were added and it
                        restricted movement of ectoplasmic particles sug-          was warmed from 4° to 20 °C . Electron microscope
                         gests that the ectoplasm is a two-phase system with       examination of aggregates formed at the end of the
                         the organelles suspended in a loose gel network           reaction revealed filaments which were 120 A in
                         (Allen, 1961) . Movement is dependent on gel              diameter and 5,000 A long . A more purified extract
                        ' The terms endoplasm and ectoplasm will be used as        contained filaments about 90 A in diameter
                        defined by Allen (1961) . The endoplasm is the low         (Wolpert, Thompson, and O'Neill, 1964) . Subse-
                        consistency granular region in the central part of the     quent reports (Morgan et al ., 1967) have shown
                        ameba . In moving monopodial specimens of Amoeba           much thinner filaments (20 A) in high-speed super-
                        proteus, the endoplasm flows toward the advancing tip      natant fractions of the extract . This high-speed
                        where it is everted in the fountain zone to form the       supernatant exhibited ATP-stimulated movement
                         higher consistency, peripheral ectoplasm . The ecto-      only after the addition of the "vesicle fraction"
                         plasm is divided into granular ectoplasm and hyaline      which had previously been removed . Wolpert
                         ectoplasm . The hyaline ectoplasm, the clear area just     (1965) suggested that the thin filaments aggregate
                         inside the cell membrane, is sometimes referred to as     to form the thick filaments and that some interac-
                         the ectoplasm, but this is confusing and will not be
                                                                                   tion of these filaments results in contraction .
                         used. The endoplasm is separated from the ectoplasm
                         by the shear zone   .                                        We have reexamined the motile cytoplasmic ex-

                         2 68   THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME 46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                     tract of Amoeba proteus described by Thompson and             Electron micrographs were taken on either an
                     Wolpert (1963) and have correlated light and elec-          RCA EMU 3F or a Phillips 200 electron microscope .
                     tron microscope observations with viscosity meas-
                                                                                 Preparation of Cytoplasmic Extracts
                     urements to elucidate mechanisms of cytoplasmic
                     consistency changes and movement in this ameba .                 The motile fraction of ameba cytoplasm was pre-
                     Our observations suggest that the "gelation" of              pared by a modification of the method of Thompson
                     ameba cytoplasm during movement is related to                and Wolpert (1963) . Mass cultures of amebas were
                                                                                  washed in Chalkley's medium (Chalkley, 1930)
                     the formation of labile 50-70 A filaments from pre-
                                                                                  containing 0 .5 MM MgCl2 and cooled to 4 ° C for
                     cursors in the groundplasm . We speculate that                12-24 hr . The cooled cells were then concentrated
                     cytoplasmic movement may depend on the interac-              by low-speed centrifugation, and 5 cc of the resultant
                     tion of these thin filaments with 160 A filaments            slurry were centrifuged for 10 min at 18,000 rpm in
                     constantly present in the groundplasm .                      a Type SW 39L Rotor (Spinco Division, Beckman
                                                                                  Instruments, Palo Alto, California) . This gave a
                     MATERIALS AND METHODS                                        maximum centrifugal force of 35,000 g at the tip of
                                                                                  the tube and fragmented the cells into four distinct
                     Ameba Cultures                                               layers similar to those described by Thompson and
                                                                                  Wolpert (1963) . The top clear layer was the sus-
                       Amoeba proteus, strain PROT 1, was kindly supplied
                                                                                  pending medium . The second layer was a viscid
                     by Dr . J . Griffin. The cells were grown in Prescott
                                                                                  white material consisting of membrane-bounded bags

                                                                                                                                           Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                     and Carrier medium (Prescott and Carrier, 1964)
                                                                                  of cytoplasm . The third layer was brown and con-
                     and fed Tetrahymena pyriformis according to the
                                                                                  sisted of heavy fragments of the cells (food vacuoles,
                     method of Griffin (1960), modified for large scale
                                                                                  pieces of nuclei, mitochondria, and clusters of 150 A
                     (Griffin, personal communication) .
                                                                                  filaments) . The fourth layer was white and consisted
                     Preparation for Electron Microscopy                          of crystals . The second layer (about 1-2 cc), con-
                                                                                  sisting of membrane-bounded bags of cytoplasm, was
                         Several thousand amebas were pipetted into a glass       transferred to a teflon-glass homogenizer with an
                     vial, allowed to attach themselves to the surface and        equal volume of glass-distilled water or Tris-maleate
                     to undergo ameboid movement . A few milliliters of           buffer pH 7 .0 (10 or 20 mM) and homogenized with
                     fixative at 0 ° or 22 ° C were gently added while the        five gentle strokes. Large fragments (mainly plasma
                     cells were observed with a phase-contrast or dissect-        membrane) were removed by centrifugation at 1000
                     ing microscope . Fixatives used were based on the           g for 5 min . The supernatant was called Extract 1 .
                     formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde fixative of Karnovsky            Further centrifugation of Extract 1 at 10,500 rpm in
                     (1965) modified according to Ito and Karnovsky               a Type 40 Rotor (Spinco) (maximum of 10,000 g)
                     (1968) by the addition of picric acid or related trini-      for 10 min removed clusters of 150 A filaments,
                     trocompounds (trinitroresorcinol, trinitrocresol) at        mitochondria, rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth
                     the concentration of 0 .01% . 2% OS04 was added in          vesicles, and plasma membrane fragments as a sub-
                     some trials instead of the trinitrocompounds . The          stantial pellet . The supernatant was designated
                     fixatives were buffered with 0 .1 M cacodylate, pH          Extract 2 . All steps in the preparative procedure were
                     7 .2. The fixatives were designated as follows : for-       carried out at 0-4 °C .
                     maldehyde-glutaraldehyde (FG), FG + picric acid                 ATP (disodium salt-Sigma Chemical Co., St .
                     (FGP), FG + trinitroresorcinol (FGR), FG +                  Louis, Mo .) was freshly prepared for each experi-
                     trinitrocresol (FGC), and FG + OS04 (FG-Os04) .             ment in glass-distilled water or 10 mm tris-maleate
                     After 10-90 min in one of the fixatives, the cells were     buffer and brought to pH 7 .0 with NaOH .
                    washed several times in 0 .1 M cacodylate buffer, pH             Light microscope observations and ciné-photo-
                     7 .2, and left in this solution overnight at 4 ° or 22 °C   micrographs were made with Zeiss phase-contrast
                     before further fixation in 1 0 0 0304 buffered with         and polarizing optics . Samples of extract were care-
                     0 .1 M cacodylate, pH 7 .2, at 22°C for 1 hr. Some          fully sealed under coverslips with petroleum jelly, so
                    samples were treated with 0.5 or 3 .0% uranyl                that there was no movement of particles in control
                    acetate in 0 .05 M Tris-maleate buffer pH 5 .2 at            samples except random thermal (Brownian) motion .
                    22 ° C for 1 hr after treatment with Os04 . After                Samples of the extract were prepared for electron
                    ethanol dehydration, the cells were passed through                                         /
                                                                                 microscopy by fixing with 3 00 glutaraldehyde in 0.2
                    propylene oxide and embedded in Araldite . Light             M cacodylate buffer, pH 7 .0, FGC, or 1% 0304 in
                    gold and silver sections were stained with saturated         0 .1 M cacodylate buffer, pH 7 .2 for 2-15 hr at the
                    or 3% aqueous uranyl acetate for 15 sec to 30 min            temperature of the sample (either 0 ° or 22 °C) . The
                    followed by lead citrate (Venable and Coggeshall,            fixed extract was concentrated into a pellet by
                    1965) for 15 sec to 2 min .                                  centrifugation at 140,000 g for 90 min. An alternate

                                                                       T. D . POLLARD AND S .   ITo   Filaments of A . proteus . 1   269
Published August 1, 1970

                     method of fixation, which avoided concentrating the       Electron Microscopy of Intact Amebas
                     extract by centrifugation, was to solidify an enitre
                     sample of extract by adding a small amount of un-            Both cytoplasmic matrix and membranous or-
                     buffered 257 glutaraldehyde to a final concentration      ganelles were preserved satisfactorily by Kar-
                     of about 3%J for about 15 hr at 22 °C. The fixed
                                 o                                             novsky's formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (FG) fixa-
                     samples were washed with cacodylate buffer, osmi-         tive (Flickinger, 1968), but there was further
                     cated, dehydrated, and embedded as described above .       improvement in preservation when picric acid or
                                                                               related trinitro compounds were added to the FG
                     Viscosity Measurement
                                                                               fixative (Ito and Karnovsky, 1968) . The addition
                        An apparent viscosity of the extracts was measured     of trinitrocresol to FG (FGC) gave a more satis-
                     reproducibly with vertically mounted 0 .1 ml pipets .     factory fixation with fewer myelin figures than
                     The pipet tips were heat constricted and were sub-        FGR or FGP .
                     merged in 0.2 ml of sample during viscosity measure-         Washing fixed cells overnight in buffer solutions
                     ments . The time for 0.07 cc of extract to flow from
                                                                               before treatment with Os0 4 removed most of the
                     the pipet was compared with the time for an equal
                                                                               small black cytoplasmic particles which puzzled
                     volume of distilled water to flow out .
                                                                               previous investigators. Flickinger (1968) obtained
                    Dimension Measurement                                      similar results with an overnight wash of the FG-
                       The dimensions of the various types of filaments        fixed amebas in distilled water .

                                                                                                                                       Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                    were measured precisely with a Nikon Profile Pro-             Fig . 1 is a low power electron micrograph of a
                    jector (Nippon Kogaku K .K., Japan) directly from          small portion of an ameba showing the plasma
                    original negative electron micrographs taken at            membrane, a cluster of thick filaments, mitochon-
                     X 20,580 . The microscope was calibrated with carbon      dria, two Golgi complexes, endoplasmic reticulum,
                    replica of a diffraction grating (E . F . Fullam, Inc .,   and several types of vacuoles . The cytoplasmic
                    Schenectady, N . Y .) .                                    matrix (or groundplasm), which is preserved by
                                                                               the improved fixation, contains free ribosomes and
                                                                               glycogen particles suspended by gray background
                     The Effect of Fixation on Amoeba proteus                  material which may appear amorphous, granular,
                                                                               or reticular (Fig . 2) .
                       Adding any of the above fixatives to cultures of           Two types of filaments but no microtubules were
                    actively moving amebas caused normal cytoplasmic           observed in the cytoplasm of randomly selected
                    streaming to cease in less than 30 sec . With              amebas, confirming the observation of Nachmias
                    FG-Os0 4 at 0 ° or 22 °C or with any of the other           (1968) on Chaos . Most sections of amebas had
                    fixatives at 0 ° , there was no further visible cyto-       160 A wide, solid filaments up to 5000 A long
                    plasmic movement . With the formaldehyde-glu-              (Figs . 1-3) . These filaments were most often found
                    taraldehyde-based fixatives at 22 °C, the appear-          in randomly oriented clusters near the plasma
                    ance of many of the amebas was distorted by                membrane or groups of mitochondria . Occasion-
                                                                               ally, they were packed in a parallel array as if they
                    violent abnormal contractions and changes of shape
                                                                               were in a stream of flow or under tension
                    for 1-2 min following the addition of the fixative .
                                                                                (Nachmias, 1964) . In some cells most of the 160 A
                       Substantial shrinkage of the amebas, up to one-         filaments were found singly, distributed through-
                    half the original volume, occurred during fixation         out the cytoplasm.
                    and embedding regardless of the technique used .              The second type of filament observed was about
                    High osmolarity fixatives caused more rapid                70 A wide and indefinite in length (Figs . 3 and 4) .
                    shrinkage than low osmolarity fixatives . If the           These thin filaments had to be searched for in the
                    amebas were passed quickly through fixatives and           sectioned cells. They usually were found close to
                    buffer washes for avoiding shrinkage there, they           groups of 160 A filaments oriented in a parallel or
                    would shrink during dehydration .                          reticular array .
                       Although the ectoplasm was readily distin-                 In an effort to localize these filaments in an
                    guished from endoplasm in living amebas, a clear           ameba undergoing a well defined movement,
                    distinction of these regions was no longer apparent        single fountain-streaming amebas were fixed in
                    in most fixed amebas .                                     FGP and embedded . Phase-contrast photomicro-

                     270    THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY • VOLUME 46,1070

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                        Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 1    An electron micrograph of a small peripheral portion of Amoeba proteus showing the cyto-
                           plasmic structures : thick filaments (TkF), plasma membrane (PM), pinocytotic vesicles (PV), food
                           vacuoles (FV), Golgi complexes (GC), mitochondria (Mt), and the cytoplasmic matrix, groundplasm .
                           FGC fixation . X 17,000 .

                     graphs were taken at each step in the procedure .        Fine Structure of the Extracts
                     Shrinkage and abnormal movements during fixa-
                                                                                Electron microscope examination of thin sec-
                     tion usually distorted the normal morphology . One       tions of Extract I revealed it to be a crude cyto-
                     specimen which appeared to be well preserved             plasmic fraction of groundplasm, mitochondria,
                     except for shrinkage and loss of distinction of the      endoplasmic reticulum, smooth membranous
                     endoplasm from the ectoplasm was serial sectioned .      vesicles, glycogen particles, and small fragments
                     Scattered 160 A filaments were found in both the         of plasma membrane (Fig . 5) . Occasionally,
                     endoplasm and the ectoplasm, without clear dif-          groups of 160 A filaments and, very rarely, a few
                     ferences in any region . Few 70 A filaments were         small bundles of 70 A filaments were seen in Ex-
                     seen .                                                   tract I kept at 0-4 °C (Table I) .
                        Cooling amebas to 4 °C for several hours and            Centrifugation of Extract 1 for 10 min at
                     fixing at 4 ° C did not reduce the apparent number       10,000 g removed most of the membranous organ-
                     of 160 A filaments . There were too few 70 A fila-       elles and bundles of filaments . The supernatant,
                     ments in fixed amebas for estimating the number          Extract 2, was almost pure groundplasm (Fig . 6)
                     of these filaments at different temperatures .           with very few small vesicles and microsomes . No

                                                                     T. D . POLLARD AND S.   ITo   Filaments of A . proteus. 1    271

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                            Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 2     An electron micrograph showing the detailed structure of the cytoplasmic matrix or ground-
                           plasm (GP), which consists of free ribosomes suspended in a matrix which is amorphous, granular, or
                           reticular in different areas . A small group of thick filaments (TkF), plasma membrane, and a mitochondria
                           are also pictured . FGP fixation . X 39,000 .

                     filaments were observed in Extract 2 kept at 0-4 ° C        served in the light microscope and filaments were
                     (Table I) .                                                 observed in the electron microscope) .
                        In the phase-contrast microscope, the mitochon-             In samples of extract sealed carefully under
                     dria and vesicles in the extracts appeared as dark          coverslips, there was an even distribution of par-
                     particles suspended in an amorphous gray back-              ticles surrounded by gray amorphous background
                     ground (see the background in Figs . 7 and 8) .             material . In control samples, and initially in
                                                                                 motile samples, there was only Brownian move-
                     Light Microscope Observation of the                         ment of the particles . In Extract 1, the crude cyto-
                     Motile Extracts                                             plasmic fraction, the initial phase of movement,
                        Extract 1 underwent dramatic streaming and               Phase 1, began from 30 sec to 3 min after the slides
                     contraction when warmed from 0 ° to 22 ° C in the           were transferred from 0 ° to 22 ° C. First, there were
                     presence of 2-5 mm ATP as described by                      saltatory movements of individual particles . Grad-
                     Thompson and Wolpert (1963) and demonstrated                ually, larger groups of particles moved in unison
                     in a movie at the 1968 meeting of the American              and appeared to be held in a semirigid structure
                     Society for Cell Biology (Pollard and Ito, 1968) .          invisible in the phase-contrast and polarizing mi-
                     Movement was divided into two phases : Phase 1              croscopes . Large streams of particles formed and
                     was the movement observed before the formation              flowed in different directions . Two streams moving
                     of fibrils visible in the phase-contrast microscope,        in opposite directions separated by an apparently
                     and Phase 2 was the movement seen after the                 gelled area were often seen within one microscope
                     formation of visible fibrils . (Note : fibrils were ob-     field . The effect was strikingly similar to the flow of

                     272      THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME 46, 1970
Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                         Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 3   An electron micrograph showing the two types of cytoplasmic filaments : a large cluster of
                           randomly oriented thick filaments (TkF) and a small parallel array of 50-70 A thin filaments (TnF) .
                           FGC fixation. X 81,000.

                    axial endoplasm in a shell of ectoplasmic gel in an        described above . Two of the failures occurred when
                    intact ameba and to the observations of streaming          dying ameba cultures were used to make the
                    in broken amebas (Allen, Cooledge, and Hall,               extract .
                    1960) . The movement could be quite violent as               Phase 2 movement began after about 10 min at
                    areas of the extract contracted and retracted from         22 ° C with the formation of very fine fibrils which
                    each other ; this resulted in the concentration of         gradually increased in thickness as they were ob-
                    particles in the apparently gelled areas . This initial    served in the phase-contrast microscope . The fibrils
                    phase of movement lasted up to 10 min in Extract           showed strong, positive birefringence . Particles
                     1, before movement gradually subsided .                   were often attached to these fibrils and appeared
                       Control samples of extract without ATP con-             to be pulled into clusters of other particles and
                    tinued to show only Brownian motion after warm-            fibrils as the fibril to which they were attached
                    ing to 22 ° C, and the particles remained evenly           shortened. As the fibrils shortened, there was no
                    distributed . Consequently, it was easy to tell which      detectable increase in their diameter ; their proxi-
                    samples had moved, even after the movement had             mal end appeared to vanish into the cluster of
                    ceased, by the variation in concentration of par-          particles toward which they moved, giving one the
                    ticles in the gelled areas and elsewhere . Convincing      impression that the fibril was being "pulled into"
                    movement was observed in eight out of eleven               the cluster . Circular arrays of fibrils hundreds of
                    preparations of Extract 1 prepared by the method           microns in diameter sometimes formed and con-

                                                                      T. D . POLLARD AND S .   ITo   Filaments of A . proteus. I   273
Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                  Downloaded from on May 6, 2011

                           FIGURE 4    An electron micrograph of the periphery of an ameba showing an extended reticular array
                           of 50-70 A thin filaments (TnF) between the plasma membrane and the nucleus (Ncl) . The thin fila-
                           ments are organized into parallel arrays in some areas . The groundplasm is present in areas not oc-
                           cupied by the thin filaments . The fibrous lamina (FL) is prominent in the nucleus . FGP fixa-
                           tion. X 49,000 .


Published August 1, 1970

                           FiGuREs 5 and 6 Electron micrographs of thin sections of extracts of Amoeba proteus at 0°C .
                           Fixation with 3% glutaraldehyde at 0 ° C . Collection by centrifugation at 140,000 g .

                                                                                                                                          Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 5 Extract 1 at 0°C consists of mitochondria, vesicles, fragments of plasma membrane (PM),
                           endoplasmic reticulum, and groundplasm (GP) . Occasional 160 A filaments and very rare 50-70 A
                           filaments are present in Extract 1 at 0°C-not shown. X 26,000.
                           FIGURE 6 Extract 2 at 0° C is essentially pure groundplasm . Rare vesicles, but no filaments are pres-
                           sent in samples kept at 0-4 °C . X 45,000.

                      tracted toward their center, sweeping all of the            The fibrils and tactoids were cold labile . They
                     particles ahead of them into a large cluster visible      disappeared in samples stored overnight at 4 ° C
                     with the naked eye . In both of these types of move-      and returned in 10-20 min after rewarming to
                     ment, the fibrils appeared to transmit the tension        22 ° C . There was no movement during the reforma-
                     necessary to move the particles . Loose clusters of       tion of the fibrils .
                     particles and fibrils contracted into tight clusters
                      (Fig. 7) . This phase of movement lasted up to 90        Conditions for Movement and Fibril Formation
                     min and occurred in five out of eleven preparations          Warming of Extract 1 from 4 ° to 22 °C was re-
                     of Extract I .                                            quired for movement . Convincing Phase 1 move-
                        An alternate to this second phase of movement          ment was observed on one occasion in Extract 1
                     was the formation of fibrils and spindle-shaped           without the addition of ATP, but ATP (2-5 mm)
                     tactoids (Fig . 8) without visible movement or the        stimulated movement in multiple samples of eight
                     formation of clusters of particles . The tactoids were    out of eleven preparations of the extract . Extracts
                     also birefringent (Fig . 9) . This was observed in four   prepared with Tris-maleate buffer moved more
                     out of eleven preparations of Extract 1 .                 consistently than those prepared with distilled
                        Phase 1 movement was observed in only two out          water . Extract stored at 4 ° C lost the capacity for
                     of seven preparations of Extract 2, the purified          ATP-stimulated movement after about 1-2 hr, as
                     cytoplasmic fraction, after warming to 22 ° C with        described by Wolpert, Thompson, and O'Neill
                     ATP. When it did occur, it was transient and lasted       (1964) .
                     less than 2 min. In six of seven preparations of             For examining the calcium requirement for
                     Extract 2, extensive networks of birefringent fibrils     movement, the calcium chelating agent EGTA
                     and tactoids formed, starting about 10 min after          (I , 2 -bis(2 -bicarboxymethylaminoethoxyethane) )
                     warming with ATP. These fibrils and tactoids in-          at 0 .33 mm was added to Extract I with ATP . The
                     creased in diameter, but convincing movement was          movement on warming to 22 ° C was equivalent to
                     not observed . Consequently, little or no movement        Phase I and 2 movements stimulated by ATP
                     was observed in either phase in preparations of           alone . EGTA (0 .33-1 .0 mm) alone did not stimu-
                     Extract 2 .                                               late movement.

                                                                     T. D . POLLAnn AND S. ITO      Filaments of A . proteus . 1    275
Published August 1, 1970

                                                                           TABLE I
                                                    Morphological Analysis of Extracts of Amoeba proteus
                                                                                 Extract I                      Extract 2

                                 Components at 0 ° C      Major :     Groundplasm                       Groundplasm
                                                                      Free ribosomes                    Free ribosomes
                                                                      Glycogen particles                Glycogen particles
                                                                      Rough endoplasmic
                                                                      Smooth vesicles
                                                                      Plasma membrane

                                                          Minor :     160 A filaments                   Rough endoplasmic
                                                                      70 A filaments (rare)             Smooth vesicles
                                                                                                        Plasma membrane

                                New components                        50-70 A filaments                 50-70 A filaments

                                                                                                                                         Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                                  after warming to                      (numerous)                        (numerous)
                                  22°C with ATP
                                ATP-stimulated                        Reliable                          Rare and uncon-
                                  motility                                                                vincing

                           FIGURE   7 Phase-contrast photomicrographs of Extract 1 at 22° C with 4 Mm of ATP. One type of ATP-
                           stimulated movement observed in Phase 2-the condensation of a cluster of particles and fibrils-is shown
                           (Fig . 7 a) . The length of the cluster decreases about 35% in Fig . 7 b and about 607 in Fig . 7 c and d .
                           This sequence was taken over a period of 10 min . The vesicles and mitochondria in the extract appear
                           as small dark particles surrounded by amorphous gray material . X 250 .

                       Fibril formation also required warming to 22 ° C,          Viscosity Measurements
                     but in contrast to movement, both ATP and                      Serial measurements of the apparent viscosity
                     EGTA stimulated fibril formation . EGTA pro-                 were made on samples from five preparations of
                     moted only a small amount of fibril formation                Extract 1, while movement was monitored in two
                     compared with ATP .                                          other samples of the same preparation sealed under

                     276      TIIE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME          46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                           FIGURE 8     A phase-contrast photomicrograph of fibrils and tactoids formed in Extract 1 after warming
                           to 22 ° C with ATP . X 430 .

                                                                                                                                           Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 9     A polarizing photomicrograph of birefringent tactoids formed from Extract 1 with ATP at
                           22°C . X   930.

                     coverslips . The apparent viscosity of Extract 1           Electron Microscopic Observations of the
                     warmed to 22 ° C with ATP increased to a maxi-             Motile Extracts
                     mum, coinciding with the peak of Phase I move-
                     ment, and then fell to control values as aggregates           Samples of Extract I fixed during active move-
                     of the extract precipitated out of solution in Phase       ment (Figs. I1 and 12) had extensive regions in
                     2 (Fig . 10) . This increase in apparent viscosity         which the membrane fragments and organelles
                     occurred only if there was active Phase 1 move-            were enmeshed in dense network of thin 50-70 A
                     ment and never occurred if there was no move-              filaments and clusters of thick 160 A filaments (see
                     ment, as in the controls without ATP .                     Table I) . The thick filaments were frequently
                        The extent of the rise in viscosity during Phase 1      found at points at which groups of thin filaments
                     appeared to be determined by the length of time            appeared to merge as in Fig. 11 . This arrangement
                     before the precipitation of aggregates, after which        of thick filaments at the center of radiating thin
                     the viscosity always decreased to control values .         filaments was also seen in moving samples of
                     The preparation used for Fig . 10 demonstrated the         Extract I prepared for electron microscopy with-
                     greatest increase in viscosity and no precipitate          out 140,000 g centrifugation . This gave some
                     formed until after 8 min at 22 ° C . In two prepara-       assurance that this organization existed in the
                     tions, little or no rise in viscosity could be measured    extract and was not an artifact of the preparation .
                     despite good Phase I movement, but visible pre-            Some of the thin filaments appeared to abut on
                     cipitates formed in the viscometer after 2 or 3 min .      the surface of the thick filaments, membrane
                     In the remaining two preparations, in which inter-         fragments, or organelles (Figs . I I and 12) .
                     mediate viscosity increases were measured, pre-               In samples of Extract 1 fixed after the formation
                     cipitates formed after 5 or 6 min . These precipitates     of birefringent fibrils, 70 A filaments were fre-
                     were not apparent in the samples sealed on micro-          quently arranged on long parallel arrays (Fig . 13) .
                     scope slides or in test tubes ; so it seemed likely        The parallel arrays of thin filaments would be ex-
                     that the repeated flow of the extract into and out         pected to be birefringent, and the dimensions of
                     of the viscometer promoted aggregate formation .           these aggregates were the same as the dimensions
                     These aggregates consisted of clusters of particles,       of the fibrils observed in the light microscope,
                     fibrils, and tactoids similar to those observed in         strongly suggesting that the birefringent fibrils
                     Phase 2 .                                                  were formed from 70 A filaments .

                                                                      T . D . POLLARD AND S .   ITo   Filaments of A . proteus . 1   277

    Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                            Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                                                                         MINUTES AT 22°C

                               FIGURE 10    The change of relative apparent viscosity of Extract 1 after warming to 22 ° C f 4
                               maI ATP . Relative apparent viscosity = s° rlo where t = time for 0 .07 ml of Extract to flow from
                               pipet viscometer, t„ = time for 0 .07 ml of water toJ flow from pipet viscometer, no = the apparent
                               viscosity of water, taken to be 1 .00 here . •    •, relative apparent viscosity of Extract 1 + 4
                               mm of ATP . 0	0, relative apparent viscosity of Extract 1 + volume of water equal to the
                               volume of added ATP . Two samples each of the Extract + ATP and Extract alone were observed
                               in the phase-contrast microscope by an independent observer, while the viscosity was measured . Phase
                               1 movement began at 2 min after warming to 22 ° C . Fibrils appeared after 9 min, marking the
                               beginning of Phase 2 movement.

                            Extract 1 warmed to 22 °C without added ATP            of thin 70 A filaments excluded all other structural
                         was found to have a few small clusters of thin fila-      elements . The aggregates of thick filaments gen-
                         ments more frequently than similar samples kept           erally excluded other structures, but there were
                         at 0-4 ° C, but these filaments did not aggregate         some amorphous matrix materials or a few thin
                         into large fibrils visible in the light microscope .      filaments between the thick filaments (Fig . 15) .
                            The extensive arrays of birefringent fibrils which        In cross-section, the thick filaments seen in Ex-
                         form in Extract 2 after warming with ATP also             tract 1 were solid with some fine lateral projections
                         comprised parallel arrays of 50-70 A filaments            (Fig . 18) . In longitudinal section, the thick fila-
                         (Fig . 14), just as the fibrils in Extract 1 . No 160 A   ments measured up to 0 .5 µy long . The mean width
                         thick filaments were seen in Extract 2 (see Table         of the thick filaments (such as those in Fig . 18) was
                         I) .                                                      157 A (so = 22 A) . Some thick filaments had
                            At the end stage of ATP-induced movement of            distinct longitudinal striations, and others ap-
                         Extract 1, large pseudocrystalline aggregates of          peared to end in a spray of very fine threads .
                         thick or thin filaments formed (Figs . 15-17) . The          The long, thin filaments in tactoids and fibrils
                         pseudocrystals of parallel thin filaments were the        (Figs. 13-16) were 72 A (sv = 10 A) wide and
                         birefringent tactoids seen in the light microscope        appeared slightly beaded at high magnification .
                         (Figs . 8 and 9) . The parallel, tightly packed arrays    A cross-section of a tactoid showed that the "70

                         278     THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY • VOLUME 46, 1970
Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                       Downloaded from on May 6, 2011

                           FIGURE 11 An electron micrograph of Extract I undergoing Phase 1 movement 8 min after warming
                           to 22 ° C with ATP . An extensive filamentous network surrounds and abuts on (arrow) the membrane
                           fragments and vesicles . Groups of 160 A thick filaments are located at points where groups of thin fila-
                           ments intersect. Fixation with 3% glutaraldehyde at 22 ° C . Collection at 140,000 g . X 21,000 .

                                                                             27 9

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                           Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 12 An electron micrograph of         Extract 1 undergoing Phase 1 movement 8 min after warming
                           to 22 ° C with ATP . Thin filaments 50-70   A wide radiate from a cluster of 160 A thick filaments . Prepara-
                           tion as in Fig. 11. X 80,000.

                    A" filaments were clearly separated from adjacent               changes and movement in Amoeba proteus . The ob-
                    filaments in an irregular array (Fig . 17) . In                 servations reported above led us to conclude, as
                    samples fixed during Phase 1 and early Phase 2                  explained in detail below, that increases in cyto-
                    movement, there were 70 A filaments identical                   plasmic consistency are caused by the formation of
                    with those seen in the fibrils and tactoids, but there          50-70 A filaments from precursors in the ground-
                    were also substantial numbers of filaments which                plasm . A second type of filament, about 160 A in
                    appeared thinner (Figs . 12 and 13) . These thinner             diameter, was observed, and we postulate that
                    filaments were 54 A (so = 6 A) wide . These                     these thicker filaments may interact with the thin
                    "50 A" thin filaments were frequently seen in con-              filaments to cause contraction of the cytoplasm .
                    tinuity with the 70 A thin filaments (Fig . 13) .
                                                                                    Fixed Specimens of Amoeba proteus
                    There was no population of filaments intermediate
                    in diameter between the 160 A thick and 70 A thin                 Studies of living giant amebas (Allen, 1961) have
                    filaments at any stage .                                        shown that the low consistency endoplasm of the
                                                                                    ameba appears to be reversibly converted to higher
                                                                                    consistency ectoplasm during movement . It was
                     This study of ameboid movement was undertaken                  hoped that it would be possible to fix an ameba
                     to investigate the mechanisms of consistency                   during movement and to examine the various

                     280      THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME             46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                            Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 13     An electron micrograph of Extract 1 at 22 °C for 45 min with ATP. The parallel arrays
                           of 70 A filaments are thought to be the birefringent fibrils observed to form during Phase 2 movement in
                           samples warmed with ATP . The 70 A filaments in the upper parallel array (TnF) appear continuous
                           with thinner (about 50 A) filaments (arrow) bridging them to the cluster of 160 A filaments in the lower
                           right (TkF) . Preparation as in Fig . 11 . ER, endoplasmic reticulum . X 70,000.

                     regions of the cell in the electron microscope to                (b) Agonal contractions during fixation alter
                     directly observe which components of the cell are             the gross morphology and presumably the fine
                     responsible for the difference in consistency be-             structure of the amebas. Certain structural fea-
                     tween the endoplasm and the ectoplasm . Such                  tures that are obvious in living amebas may dis-
                     studies were previously attempted with Chaos                  appear during fixation . For example, the clear
                     carolinensis (Komnick and Wohlfarth-Botterman,                distinction between the endoplasm and the ecto-
                      1965) and Saccamoeba sp .2 (Bhowmick, 1967), but             plasm in living amebas is usually lost during
                     the results were not convincing because of the                fixation . This may explain the absence of ultra-
                     following problems :                                          structural distinction between the endoplasm
                           (a) One must observe the cell before and dur-           and the ectoplasm in fixed amebas .
                        ing preparation for electron microscopy to be                 (c) Shrinkage of the fixed cells concentrates
                        certain that the cell being studied was moving             the cytoplasm and may also disorganize some
                        normally when fixed and to precisely identify              of the cytoplasmic structures . Schäfer-Danneel
                        areas in electron micrographs as specific parts of         (1967) considered this problem but also was
                        the living cell . This has not previously been             unable to circumvent it .
                        done .                                                        (d) The cells should be moving-not sta-
                     2 Originally stated to be Trichamoeba villosa but             tionary, as when exposed to pinocytosis-inducing
                     actually Saccamoeba sp ., strain F-13, Griffin (J .           solutions (Nachmias, 1964) or cold (Schäfer-
                     Griffin, personal communication) .                            Danneel, 1967) .

                                                                       T. D . POLLARD AND S . ITO     Filaments of A . proteus . 1    281

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                      Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                    FIGURE   14 An electron micrograph of parallel arrays    FIGURE 15       An electron micrograph of Extract 1
                    of 50-70 A filaments (TnF) in Extract 2 after warming    45  min after warming to 22 ° C with ATP . Pseudo-
                    to 22° C for 8 min with ATP . These thin filaments are   crystalline arrays of thick (TkF) and thin (TnF)
                    throught to form the birefringent fibrils and tactoids   filaments are homogeneous except for some amorphous
                    which appear in Extract 2 warmed with ATP . Fixa-        material between the thick filaments . The pseudo-
                    tion with FGC at 22 ° C . X 65,000.                      crystals of 70 A filaments are thought to be the bire-
                                                                             fringent tactoids observed in the light microscope .
                                                                             Preparations as in Fig . 11 . X 39,000.
                       In an effort to avoid these problems, single
                    fountain-streaming amebas were fixed and em-
                    bedded under close microscopic observation . Care-       copy during fixation, and the observation of Allen
                    ful selection of specimens with minimal abnormal         and Griffin (Allen, 1961) that the gel structure is
                    movements during fixation and serial sectioning          labile and disrupted by agitation or other mild
                    avoided the first problem, but shrinkage and im-         treatments of the cell, are in agreement with this
                    perfect fixation, as observed in the phase-contrast      explanation.
                    microscope, limited this approach .
                       No fine structural difference could be detected       Two Classes of Filaments in Amoeba proteus
                    between regions of the cell known to be endoplasm          Previous investigators working on Amoeba proteus
                    and ectoplasm . This, of course, does not mean that      and Chaos carolinensis have observed cytoplasmic
                    there are no structural differences between these        filaments ranging in size from 20 to 220 A in diam-
                    regions in the living ameba . The most likely ex-
                                                                             eter (Nachmias, 1964, 1968 ; Wolpert, Thompson,
                    planation for our inability to preserve this postu-
                                                                             and O'Neil, 1964 ; Morgan, Fyfe and Wolpert,
                    lated differentiation is that the structures involved,
                                                                             1967 ; Schäfer-Danneel, 1967) . All hypothesized
                    presumably thin filaments (see below), are labile,
                    and that the chemical and physical irritation of the     that the thicker filaments were aggregations of
                    cell by the fixative caused them to depolymerize .       thinner filaments . The following observations are
                    The loss of visual distinction of the ectoplasm from     in favor of there actually being two classes of fila-
                    the endoplasm observed by phase-contrast micros-         ments in Amoeba proteus ; 160 A diameter rods about

                     282     THE   JOURNAL OF CELL BioLOGy • VOLUME     46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                          Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURES 16   and 17 Extract 1 after 45 min at 22°C with ATP . Preparation as in Fig. 11 .

                           FIGURE 16    A longitudinal section of a parallel array of thin 70 A filaments . The filaments have no
                           definite substructure in this preparation, but they may be slightly beaded . X 145,000.

                           FIGURE  17 A cross-section of 70 A filaments in an irregular array . Individual filaments are clearly
                           separated from each other. X 145,000 .

                    0 .5 µ long and 50-70 A thin filaments of indefinite        70 A filaments aggregated to form the 160 A
                    length                                                      filaments .
                        (a) The exact length of the thin filaments could           (c) Large numbers of 50-70 A filaments form in
                    not be determined in sectioned material, but they           Extract 2 warmed to room temperature with ATP,
                    appear to be quite long . The 160 A filaments are           but no 160 A filaments are found in Extract 2
                    less than 0 .5,u long. It seems unlikely that the long      either before or after warming . Therefore, either
                    70 A filaments would break up into 0 .5 µ lengths           the 160 A filaments or factors necessary for their
                    during aggregation to form the 160 A filaments .            formation are removed by centrifugation of Ex-
                       (b) There is no significant population of fila-          tract I at 10,000 g for 10 min . The observation of
                    ments of intermediate size in the cells or cyto-            scattered bundles of 160 A filaments in the 10,000 g
                    plasmic extracts . Careful measurement of the
                                                                                pellet favors the former explanation and makes it
                    distribution of filaments sizes supports this view .
                                                                                seem unlikely that the 70 A filaments aggregate to
                    Assuming a random distribution of filament size
                    around the mean wdith, 95% (mean f 2 sD) of                 form the 160 A filaments.
                    the filaments would fall into these ranges : 160 A             (d) Pseudocrystals made up entirely of 160 A
                    thick filaments, 113-201 A ; and 70 A thin fila-            rods or 70 A filaments form after ATP-stimulated
                    ments, 52-92 A . There is no overlap in these               movement in Extract 1 . Mixed or heterogeneous
                    distributions . Overlap might be expected if the            crystalline arrays are not observed . This may be an

                                                                       T. D . POLLARD AND S. ITO     Filaments of A . proteus . 1   283

Published August 1, 1970

                                                                                                                                         Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                           FIGURE 18 160 A     filaments in longitudinal and cross-section . Extract 1 8 min at 22 ° C with ATP . The
                           thick filaments are solid in cross-section with some fine lateral projections (circle) . There are distinct
                           longitudinal striations, and some filaments end in a spray of fine filaments (arrow) . Preparation as in
                           Fig . 11 . X 145,000 .

                     indication that the two types of filaments have              (1964) described 150 and 75 A filaments in Chaos
                     different chemical compositions .                            carolinensis which are identical with the thick and
                        (e) The microscopic fibrils composed of 50-70 A           thin     filaments of Amoeba proteus . Wolpert,
                     filaments are cold labile, while the 160 A rods are          Thompson, and O'Neill (1964) demonstrated that
                     not . The 50-70 A filaments, if present, are found           the filaments formed from Extract 2 were thinner
                     in very small numbers in extracts fixed at 0 ° C . On        (80-90 vs . 120 A) than the filaments formed from
                     the other hand, substantial numbers of 160 A                 Extract 1 . They did not appreciate that they may
                     filaments are seen in whole cells and cell fractions         have been dealing with two classes of filaments .
                     at 0-4 °C .                                                  With improved fixation techniques, the thinner
                        (f) In the intact ameba, the 50-70 A filaments            filaments appear 50-70 A wide and are visualized
                     appear to be more labile and difficult to preserve           in both Extract 1 and Extract 2 . Their "spongy"
                     than the 160 A filaments . Both types of filaments           material of Extract 1 is now resolved into networks
                     are found in preparations of ameba extracts,                 of thin filaments . Their thicker filaments, some of
                     where, as hypothesized above, the thin filaments'            which measure up to 150 A wide in their Fig. 6,
                     state of polymerization cannot be influenced by              are identical with our 160 A filaments . Of special
                     changes in the cell membrane . Large numbers of              interest is their failure to find thick filaments in
                     160 A filaments are preserved in the cell and in             Extract 2, which supports our similar observation .
                     cytoplasmic extracts .                                       Morgan, Fyfe, and Wolpert (1967) described
                        Clarification or reinterpretation of earlier ob-          20-30 A filaments in negatively stained extracts of
                     servations supports our hypothesis . Nachmias                Amoeba proteus . These filaments appeared about

                     284       THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME 46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                    40 A wide in sectioned material and may be the          cations, especially calcium, is important in the
                    same as the thinnest filaments which we observed        aggregation process . We observed that fibril for-
                    in sectioned material . Schäfer-Danneel (1967) also     mation occurs in the crude cytoplasmic prepara-
                    observed thick and thin filaments in glycerinated       tions warmed with EGTA, ATP, or EGTA and
                    specimens of Amoeba proteus .                           ATP. More fibrils formed in the presence of ATP,
                      Although the definite answer to the question of       probably because more filaments formed, as dis-
                    how many types of filaments are found in these          cussed above . Aggregation may be a separate
                    amebas will have to await their isolation and           process involving chelation of calcium by EGTA,
                    chemical characterization, these observations sug-      EDTA, or ATP .
                    gest that the thick and thin filaments are two             The thin filaments vary in size between about
                    chemically distinct types .                             40 and 90 A . Three observations suggest that
                                                                            50 A filaments aggregate to form 70 A filaments :
                     Thin Filaments                                         (a) There is considerable overlap in the distribu-
                      Long thin 50-70 A filaments are observed in in-       tion of the sizes of the filaments . The 95% ranges
                    tact cells and Extracts I and 2 . Very few thin fila-   are 42-66 A for the "50 A" filaments and 52-92 A
                    ments are seen in extracts at 0-4 °C, so the numer-     for the ` 70 A" filaments . (b) The 50 and 70 A
                    ous filaments seen at 22 ° C probably form from         filaments are frequently observed in continuity .
                    precursors in the groundplasm, the principal            (c) The number of 70 A filaments in the extracts

                                                                                                                                       Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                    component of these extracts .                           gradually increases as the proportion of 50 A
                       At least two factors participate in the control of   filaments decreases with time after warming to
                     thin filament formation : temperature and ATP .        22 ° C . This concept of the relation of these two
                    Warming the extracts to room temperature is an          sizes of thin filaments agrees with the observations
                     absolute requirement for filament formation . A        of Morgan, Fyfe, and Wolpert (1967) on negatively
                    few filaments form after warming, even in the ab-       stained filaments from Amoeba proteus .
                     sence of ATP or EGTA, and neither of these com-          These thin filaments are similar to muscle actin
                    pounds stimulates filament formation at 4° C . In       in size, shape, (Hanson and Lowy, 1963), forma-
                     addition, fibrils of thin filaments disappear when     tion with the absorption of heat and proposed
                    cooled to 4°C overnight . Although it is not known      molecular structure, including interaction with
                    whether the filaments simply disaggregate or            ATP. Are they formed from an actin-like mole-
                    whether they break down into subunits in the cold,      cule? Evidence is rapidly accumulating that thin
                    these observations are consistent with filament         cytoplasmic filaments from nonmuscle cells such
                    formation being a reversible endothermic reaction .     as these are formed from actin-like proteins .
                    Under appropriate conditions, the polymerization        Hatano and Oosawa (1966) isolated actin from
                    of muscle actin has similar properties (Grant,          slime mold, and Weihing and Korn (1969) puri-
                     1965) .                                                fied another from Acanthamoeba castellanii . Both
                       Addition of ATP greatly increases the number of      the purified ameba F-actin from Acanthamoeba
                    filaments observed after warming the extracts to        and the thin filaments in glycerinated specimens
                    room temperature . Because some filaments form          of Acanthamoeba form "arrowhead" complexes with
                    without added ATP, it is not clear whether the          rabbit muscle heavy meromyosin (HMM) identi-
                    presence of ATP is an absolute requirement for          cal with the complexes formed from muscle actin
                    polymerization . If it is required, endogenous ATP      and HMM, demonstrating that the 60 A filaments
                    must be responsible for those filaments formed          in that ameba are ameba F-actin (Pollard, Shel-
                    without its addition . Since the system probably is     ton, Weihing, and Korn, 1970) . In a subsequent
                    ATP-poor after 24 hr at 4 ° C, the number of fila-      report (Pollard and Worn, 1970), we will show
                    ments formed is limited.                                that thin filaments in extracts of Amoeba proteus
                       Under suitable conditions, thin filaments ag-        specifically bind muscle heavy meromyosin to
                    gregate laterally to form the birefringent fibrils      form arrowhead complexes which can be disso-
                    observed in the light microscope . Morgan, Fyfe,        ciated by Mg-ATP, strongly suggesting that these
                    and Wolpert (1967) reported that EGTA or                filaments are also actin .
                    EDTA will aggregate thin filaments from a high-           To summarize what is known about the thin
                    speed supernatant of Amoeba proteus cytoplasm into      filaments : they are actin-like 70 A filaments which
                    fibrils, suggesting that the chelation of divalent      are cold labile, require both heat and ATP for

                                                                  T . D . POLLARD AND   S . ITo   Filaments of A . proteus . 1   285
Published August 1, 1970

                     complete       polymerization, and aggregate        into   amebas (Allen, Cooledge, and Hall, 1960) : no
                     microscopic birefringent fibrils in the presence of        microscopic fibrils or strong birefringence develop,
                     calcium chelators .                                        and yet the extract moves vigorously and certain
                                                                                areas appear to have increased in consistency . The
                      Thick Filaments
                                                                                apparent viscosity of the extract increases during
                           The 160 A wide, 0 .5   u long rodlike filaments      this phase of movement (Fig . 10), and electron
                     appear to be stable components of the ameba .              microscopy reveals that an extended network of
                     They are present in cells and extracts at 0 °C as          thin 50-70 A filaments has formed in certain
                     well as 22 ° C, in motile and nonmotile amebas and         regions of the extract (Fig . 11) .
                     extracts, and in high and low viscosity extracts . It        The formation of thin filaments from precur-
                     is possible that more of these thick filaments form        sors in the groundplasm is probably the cause of
                     in Extract 1 after warming to 22 ° C with ATP,             the increase in apparent viscosity of the extract .
                     but this was not certain from our observations .           This is supported by the correlation of viscosity
                           Nachmias (1968) observed in negatively stained       increase with the appearance of large numbers of
                     preparations that the thick filaments of       Chaos had   thin filaments in the extract and is analogous to
                     a filamentous substructure similar to that which           the increase in viscosity associated with the
                     we have observed in sectioned material . She,              polymerization of other filamentous macromole-
                     therefore, postulated that the thick filaments             cules such as actin (Straub and Feuer, 1950) .

                                                                                                                                        Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                     formed by the aggregation of 50-70 A thin fila-               In addition, gel formation in amebas is known
                     ments. As discussed above, it seems likely that the        to be an endothermic reaction (Marsland, 1964),
                     very fine filaments which form these thick fila-           so that the observation that heat is required for
                     ments may be distinct from the 50-70 A filaments .         the formation of the thin filaments in ameba
                           Just as the thin filaments are similar to muscle     extracts agrees with the concept that thin fila-
                     actin, the thick filaments bear some superficial           ments account for the increased consistency of
                     resemblance to myosin of striated muscle : both            `gelled" cytoplasm .
                     are approximately 150 A rods with proposed                   An alternate, but more complex, mechanism
                     filamentous substructure and lateral projections .         for consistency changes is that the actin-like thin
                     If these thick filaments are myosin, it is unusual .       filaments first polymerize and then interact with
                     Except for striated muscle, myosin is not aggre-           a myosin-like component to form an actomyosin
                     gated into stable filaments under normal intra-            gel . If the thick filaments are the myosin-like
                     cellular conditions . The myosin isolated from             component, this mechanism is compatible with
                     slime mold (Hatano and Tazawa, 1968 ; Adelman              our observations, although it is not certain that
                     et al ., 1968) is soluble at intracellular ionic           an actomyosin gel would form in the presence of
                     strengths . Smooth muscle myosin sometimes aggre-          the millimolar quantities of ATP in Extract 1 .
                     gates into filaments, but only under special condi-          These observations suggest that the variations
                     tions related to the state of contraction, pH, and         in the consistency of different regions of the
                     concentration of divalent cations (Kelly and Rice,         ameba cytoplasm may be directly related to
                     1969 ; Schoenberg, 1969) .                                 variations in the proportion of thin filament pre-
                                                                                cursors polymerized into filaments . A network of
                     Mechanism of Viscosity Changes                             thin filaments could account for the limited
                           The technical difficulties discussed above make      movement of particles in the ectoplasm and the
                     it impossible to directly demonstrate in an intact         invisible obstructions to the fall of crystals in
                     fixed ameba any structural differences between             centrifuged amebas (Allen, 1961) . In addition,
                     the endoplasm and ectoplasm which may account              thin filaments which became oriented under ten-
                     for their difference in consistency . Therefore, we        sion could account for the increase in birefringence
                     have had to rely on the study of the motile ex-            observed in specimens of Chaos carolinensis stretched
                     tracts of ameba cytoplasm to formulate a hypothe-          by the application of pressure and by sporadic
                     sis for the mechanism of viscosity changes and             reversals in the direction of streaming (Allen,
                     contraction .                                              Francis, and Nakajima, 1965) . These filaments
                           The   initial phase of ATP-stimulated movement       must be present in low concentrations, and/or
                     of Extract 1, Phase 1, closely resembles the cyto-         they may be randomly oriented, because the bire-
                     plasmic streaming described in intact and broken           fringence of ameba cytoplasm is low, with retarda-

                     286         TBE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY    •   VOLUME 46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                    tions on the order of 10`-10-5 (Allen, Francis,         be important for movement . This differs slightly
                    and Nakajima, 1965) .                                   from the observations on the motility of extracts
                       A difficulty with this interpretation is that very   reported by Wolpert's group (Wolpert, Thomp-
                    few thin filaments were seen in fixed amebas, but       son, and O'Neill, 1964 ; Morgan, Fyfe, and Wol-
                    as discussed above, the ectoplasmic gel may break       pert, 1967) . They found that the 9,000 g superna-
                    down during fixation . It seems likely (Wolpert         tant was motile, but that 35,000 and 150,000 g
                    and Gingell, 1968) that changes in the cell mem-        supernatants were nonmotile unless a "vesicle
                    brane in response to external stimuli may control       fraction," the "10-35,000 g pellet," was added to
                    the state of gelation of the cytoplasm . The abnor-     these high-speed supernatants . They have not
                    mal movements and changes in the ectoplasm of           reported the components of this vesicle fraction,
                    the amebas exposed to fixatives also may be             but this fraction may be similar to the 10,000 g
                    mediated by the effects of the fixative on the cell     pellet in the present study, as both have the light
                    membrane . This defensive mechanism is absent           microscope appearance of a vesicle fraction and
                    in the cell-free extracts and may account for the       both are required for the movement of the super-
                    ease of fixing the thin filaments there .               natant .
                                                                               Which of the components of the 10,000 g
                    Mechanism of Contraction                                pellet are required for movement? This has not
                      Contraction requires the development and trans-       been proven, but speculation based on the ac-

                                                                                                                                     Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                    mission of tension . It is clear from our observa-      cepted model for muscle contraction (Hanson
                    tions in the light microscope and those earlier of      and Huxley, 1953) would suggest that the thick
                    Thompson and Wolpert (1963) that the fibrils,           filaments may be required to interact with the
                    which form in Phase 2 movement of the cytoplas-         thin filaments to develop tension . The organiza-
                    mic extract, can transmit tension. We have shown        tion of the two types of filaments in the motile
                    that these fibrils are birefringent and consist of      extract (Fig . 9), with thin filaments radiating
                    parallel arrays of 70 A filaments. Fibrils of any       from clusters of thick filaments, is consistent with
                    size, from those just resolved in the phase-con-        the idea that the two types of filaments interact
                    trast microscope to those more than 2 µ wide,           to produce the movement observed              in these
                    appear to transmit tension . By analogy, one can        extracts . At the end stage of the reaction, when
                    argue that submicroscopic fibrils of thin filaments,    the extract no longer moves, this organization is
                    or perhaps even single thin filaments, may also be
                                                                            lost, and the filaments aggregate into large pseu-
                    capable of transmitting tension, such as that
                                                                            docrystals of thin or thick filaments (Fig . 15) . On
                    necessary for the saltatory movement of subcellu-
                                                                            the other hand, the vesicles removed in the
                    lar extracts and in the cells.
                                                                            10,000 g pellet may be important for the control
                       The mechanism for the development of tension
                    is speculative, but a comparison of the motile          of the development of tension as suggested by
                    Extract I with nonmotile Extract 2 gives some           Hoffman-Berling     (1964), or the mitochondria
                    preliminary data on this important problem (see         may be necessary to supply energy.
                    Table I). Nonmotile Extract 2 contains the pre-           Wolpert, Thompson, and O'Neill (1964) found
                    cursors of thin filaments, which readily polymer-       that Extract 1 moved only when warmed to room
                    ized in the presence of ATP at 22 °C ; therefore,       temperature with ATP or ADP,               with ADP
                    the polymerization of thin filaments is alone in-
                                                                            stimulating much less movement than ATP . They
                    sufficient to cause movement . This is consistent
                                                                            also noted that the reaction was inhibited          by
                    with our light microscope observation that there
                                                                            millimolar quantities of calcium. We noted that
                    is no visible change in the shape of the fibrils of
                                                                            movement with ATP plus EGTA was equivalent
                    thin filaments as they move toward aggregates of
                    particles, suggesting that the fibrils are playing a    to the movement stimulated by ATP alone . These
                    passive role in the transmission of tension and are     observations suggest that the contractile mecha-
                    not shortening or contracting themselves . Cen-         nism of Amoeba proteus is similar to that of muscle
                    trifugation of motile Extract 1 at 10,000 g to          in its requirement for ATP but dissimilar in its
                    make nonmotile Extract 2 removes thick fila-            control mechanism, because it is not calcium
                    ments,   vesicles,   endoplasmic reticulum,     and     activated like muscle (Weber, Herz, and Reiss,
                    mitochondria . Any or all of these organelles may       1964) .

                                                                  T . D . POLLARD AND S . ITO   Filaments of A . proteus . 1   287

Published August 1, 1970

                    CONCLUSION                                                     filaments with 160 A filaments constantly present
                                                                                   in the groundplasm causes contraction of the cyto-
                    This study confirms earlier observations that ex-
                                                                                   plasm responsible for ameboid movement .
                    tracts of Amoeba proteus move in a manner similar
                    to the intact cell when warmed with ATP . During
                                                                                   We thank Miss Jane Mueller for excellent assistance
                    this movement, there is an increase in apparent
                                                                                   and United States Public Health Training Grant
                    viscosity associated with the formation of 50-70 A             No . GM-406 for support .
                    filaments from precursors in the groundplasm . It              Received for publication 22 December 1969, and in revised
                    is postulated that interaction of these labile thin            form 19 February 1970 .


                      1 . ADELMAN, M. R., G . G . BORISY, M. L. SHELAN-            14 . HATANO, S ., H. KONDO, and T. MIKI-NOUMURA .
                            SKI, R. C . WEISENBERG, and E . W. TAYLOR .                   Purification of sea urchin egg actin . Exp . Cell
                            1968 . Cytoplasmic filaments and tubules . Fed .              Res . 55 :275 .
                            Proc . 27 :1186 .                                      15 . HATANO, S ., and F . OosAwA . 1966 . Isolation and
                      2 . ALLEN, R . D . 1961 . Amoeboid movement. In The                 characterization of plasmodium actin . Bio-
                            Cell . J . Brachet and E. Mirsky, editors .                   chim . Biophys. Acta . 127 :488 .
                            Academic Press Inc ., New York . 2:135 .               16 . HATANO, S ., and M . TAZAWA. 1968 . Isolation,

                                                                                                                                               Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                      3 . ALLEN, R . D ., J . W . COOLEDGE, and P . J . HALL .            purification and characterization of myosin B
                            1960 . Streaming in cytoplasm dissociated from                from myxomycete plasmodium. Biochim . Bio-
                              the giant ameba, Chaos chaos . Nature (London) .            phys. Acta . 154 :507 .
                              187 :896 .                                           17 . HOFFMANN-BERLING, H . 1964 . Comment during
                      4.    ALLEN,rR . D ., D. W. FRANCIS, and H . NAKAJIMA . *           discussion . In Primitive Motile Systems in Cell
                              1965 . Cyclic birefringence changes in pseudo-              Biology. R. D . Allen and N. Kamiya, editors.
                              pods of Chaos carolinensis revealing the localiza-          Academic Press Inc ., New York . 171 .
                              tion of the motive force in pseudopod extension .    18 . ISHIKAWA, H., R . BISCHOFF, and H. HOLTZER .
                              Proc . Nat . Acad . Sci. U. S. A . 54 :1153 .                1969. Formation of arrowhead complexes with
                      5.    BHOWMICK, D . K . 1967 . Electron microscopy of               heavy meromyosin in a variety of cell types.
                              Trichamoeba villosa and amoeboid movement .                 J . Cell Biol . 43 :312 .
                              Exp . Cell Res. 45 :570.                             19 . ITO, S ., and M. J . KARNOVSKY . 1968 . Formal-
                      6.    BUCKLEY, I . K., and K . R . PORTER. 1967 .                   dehyde-glutaraldehyde fixative containing
                              Cytoplasmic fibrils in living cultured cells .              trinitro compounds . J. Cell Biol . 39 :168A.
                              Protoplasma . 64 :349 .                                     (Abstr. )
                      7.    CHALKLEY, H. W. 1930. Stock cultures of ameba          20 . JARosCrs, R . 1956 . Die Impulsrichtungsander-
                              Science (Washington) . 71 :442.                             ungen bei der Induction der Induction der
                      8.    CLONEY, R . A. 1966 . Cytoplasmic filaments and               Protoplasmastromung . Protoplasma . 47 :478 .
                              cell   movements : Epidermal cells during            21 . KARNOVSKY, M . J . 1965. A formaldehyde-
                              ascidian metamorphosis . J. Ultrastruct . Res.              glutaraldehyde fixative of high osmolality for
                              14 :300.                                                    use in electron microscopy . J. Cell Biol . 27 :
                      9.    Flickinger, C . J . 1968. Mitochondrial poly-                 137A (Abstr .)
                              morphism in Amoeba proteus. Protoplasma . 66 :       22 . KELLY, R . E ., and R . V . RICE . 1969 . Ultra-
                              139 .                                                       structural studies on the contractile mechanism
                     10.    GRANT, R . J . 1965 . The reversibility of G-actin-           of smooth muscle . J. Cell Biol. 42 :683 .
                              ADP polymerization : physical and chemical
                                                                                   23 . KOMNICK, H ., and K . E . WOHLFARTH-BOTTER-
                              characterization . Doctoral Thesis, Columbia
                                                                                          MAN . 1965 . Das Grundplasma und die Plasma-
                              University .
                     11 .   GRIFFIN, J . L . 1960. An improved mass culture               filamente der Amoeba Chaos Chaos nach
                              method for the large, free-living amebae .                  enzymatischer Behandlung der Zellmembran .
                              Exp . Cell Res. 21 :170.                                    Z . Zellforsch . 66 :434 .
                     12.    HANSON, J ., and HUXLEY, H . E . 1953 . Structural     24. MARSLAND, D . 1964. Pressure-temperature studies
                              basis of the cross-striations in muscle . Nature           on ameboid movement and related phenom-
                            (London) . 172 :530.                                          ena . In Primitive Motile Systems in Cell
                     13 . Hanson, J ., and J . Lowy. 1963. The structure of               Biology, R . D . Allen and N . Kamiya, editors.
                            F-actin and of actin filaments isolated from                  Academic Press Inc., New York . 173 .
                              muscle . Nature (London) . 172 :530.                 25. MORGAN, J ., D . FYFE, and L . WOLPERT . 1967 .

                     288       THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY . VOLUME 46, 1970

Published August 1, 1970

                            Isolation of microfilaments from Amoeba               37 . STRAUB, F . B ., and G . FEUER . 1950 . Adenosine-
                            proteus . Exp . Cell Res . 48 :194 .                         triphosphate . The functional group of actin .
                     26 . NACHMIAS, V. T. 1964. Fibrillar structures in                  Biochim . Biophys. Acta. 4 :455 .
                            the cytoplasm of Chaos chaos. J. Cell Biol .          38 . THOMPSON, C. M., and L . WOLPERT . 1963 .
                            23 :183 .                                                     Isolation of motile cytoplasm from Amoeba
                     27 . NACHMIAS, V . T . 1968 . Further electron micro-               proteus. Exp. Cell Res . 32 :156 .
                            scope studies on the fibrillar organization of        39 . TILNEY, L., and J . R . GIBBINS . 1969 . Micro-
                            the ground cytoplasm of Chaos chaos . J. Cell                 tubules and filaments in the filopodia of the
                            Biol. 38 :40 .                                                secondary mesenchyme cells of Arbacia punc-
                     28 . NAGAI, R ., and L. T . REBHUN . 1966 . Cytoplasmic              tulata and Echinarachnius parna . J . Cell Sci. 5 :
                            microfilaments in streaming Nitella cells. J.                 195 .
                            Ultrastruct . Res . 14 :571 .                         40 . VENABLE, J . H ., and R . COGGESHALL. 1965 . A
                     29 . POLLARD, T. D . and S. ITO. 1968 . The role of                 simplified lead citrate stain for use in electron
                            cytoplasmic filaments in viscosity changes and                microscopy . J . Cell Biol. 25 :407.
                            contraction in extracts of Amoeba proteus. J.         41 . WEBER, A ., R. HERZ, and I . REISS. 1964. The
                            Cell Biol . 39 :106A (Abstr .)                               regulation of myofibrillar activity by calcium.
                     30 . POLLARD, T . D., and E . D . KORN . 1970 . Cyto-               Proc. Roy . Soc. London Ser. B . 1.60 :489 .
                            plasmic filaments of Amoeba proteus. II . Heavy       42 . WEIHING, R., and E . D . KORN . 1969 . Ameba
                            meromyosin binding by thin filaments . In                    actin : the presence of 3-methylhistidine .
                            preparation .                                                Biochem . Biophys. Res. Commun . 35 :906 .

                                                                                                                                                Downloaded from on May 6, 2011
                     31 . POLLARD, T . D ., E . SHELTON, R . WEIHING, and         43 . WOHLFARTH-BOTTERMANN, K . E . 1964 . Differ-
                            E . D . KORN . 1970 . Ultrastructural character-            entiations of the ground cytoplasm and their
                            ization of F-actin isolated from Acanthamoeba               significance for the generation of motive force
                            castellanii and identification of cytoplasmic               of amoeboid movement . In Primitive Motile
                            filaments as F-actin by reaction with rabbit                Systems in Cell Biology . R . D . Allen and N.
                            heavy meromyosin . J. Mol. Biol . 50. In press .            Kamiya, editors . Academic Press Inc ., New
                     32 . PORTER, K . R . 1966. Cytoplasmic microtubules                York . 79.
                            and their function. In Principles of Biomolecu-       44. WOHLMAN, A ., and R . D . ALLEN . 1968 . Struc-
                            lar Organization . G . E . W . Wolstenholme and             tural organization associated with pseudopod
                            M . O'Connor, editors . Churchill Publishers,               extension and contraction during cell loco-
                            London .                                                    motion in Difflugia . J. Cell Sci. 3 :105 .
                     33 . PRESCOTT, D . M., and R. F . CARRIER . 1964 .           45 . WOLPERT, L . 1965 . Cytoplasmic streaming and
                            Experimental procedures and cultural methods                ameboid movement . Symp . Soc. Gen . Microbiol.
                            for Euplotes eurystomas and Amoeba proteus . In              15 :270 .
                            Methods in Cell Physiology . D . M . Prescott,        46 . WOLPERT, L ., and D . GINGELL. 1968. Cell
                            editor . Academic Press Inc ., New York. 1.
                                                                                        surface membrane and ameboid movement .
                     34. SCHÄFER-DANNEEL, S . 1967 . Strukturelle and
                                                                                        Symp. Soc . Exp. Biol . 22 :169 .
                            funktionelle Voraussetzungen fur die Bewe-
                                                                                  47 . WOLPERT, L ., C . M . THOMPSON and C. H .
                            gung von Amoeba proteus . Z. Zellforsch . 78 :441 .
                     35 . SCHOENBERG, C. 1969 . Electron microscope study                O'NEILL . 1964. Studies on the isolated mem-

                            of the influence of divalent ions on myosin                 brane and cytoplasm of Amoeba proteus in rela-
                            filament formation in chicken gizzard extracts               tion of amoeboid movement .          In   Primitive
                            and homogenates . Tissue and Cell. 1 :83 .                   Motile Systems in Cell Biology . R . D . Allen
                     36 . SIMARD-DUQNESNE, N ., and P. COUILLARD . 1962 .               and N . Kamiya, editors . Academic Press Inc.,
                           Ameboid movement. Exp . Cell Res . 28 :85 .                  New York . 143.

                                                                        T. D . POLLARD AND S. ITO       Filaments of A . proteus. 1     289

hkksew3563rd hkksew3563rd http://