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. 1973 Nov 1;59(2):267–275. doi: 10.1083/jcb.59.2.267

MICROTUBULES: EVIDENCE FOR 13 PROTOFILAMENTS

Lewis G Tilney 1, Joseph Bryan 1, Doris J Bush 1, Keigi Fujiwara 1, Mark S Mooseker 1, Douglas B Murphy 1, Daniel H Snyder 1
PMCID: PMC2109099  PMID: 4805001

Abstract

When microtubules are fixed in glutaraldehyde in the presence of tannic acid and thin sections cut, the subunit structure of the microtubule is readily observed without the need of image reinforcement. Seven types of microtubules were analyzed: those in the heliozoan axoneme, the mitotic apparatus, the contractile axostyle, repolymerized microtubules derived from the chick brain, the central pair in flagella, and the A tubules of flagella and the basal body. In all cases microtubules were composed of 13 equally spaced protofilaments. The B tubules in flagella and the basal body appear to be composed of 11 subunits. The connections of the B to the A and the C to the B are described. A model of a microtubule is presented.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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