New resources for the study of cellular structures

2002/11/12 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia
• Biologia

There are several differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, but the most significant is that the eukaryotic cell contains nucleus and cytoskeleton. These two elements have allowed the spectacular development of eukaryotic cells.

The cytoskeleton is responsible for most of the movements that occur in the cell, forming a kind of road network that allows the displacement of the organelles, migration and cell division, the transport of many molecules and phagocytosis. Therefore, in cells without cytoskeleton, mobility is very reduced.

The cytoskeleton is formed mainly by actin fibers. This is not the case today, but many times they have been in the process of developing techniques for analyzing these structures, since a greater effort has been made to develop techniques for analyzing the larger and smaller structures of the cell, such as proteins. On this occasion, however, the technique based on cryoelectronic tomography that they have recently developed has allowed to visualize these actinous fibers. It has been announced that this technique will have great utility in the future, among other things because it is not necessary to dye or transform the samples. In the image you can see the network formed by the actin filaments of Dictyostelium ameba (in red), in the area that joins the cell membrane (in blue).