Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1978 Aug;75(8):3863–3866. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.8.3863

Association of mitochondria with microtubules in cultured cells.

M H Heggeness, M Simon, S J Singer
PMCID: PMC392888  PMID: 80800

Abstract

By indirect immunofluorescence techniques, microtubules and mitochondria were localized in normal rat kidney cells, human WI38 fibroblasts, mouse peritoneal macrophages, and a putative smooth muscle rat cell line, in monolayer culture. The mitochondria were found to be arranged along the cytoplasmic microtubules in each cell type. Disruption of the microtubules with colcemid caused a redistribution of the mitochondria in these cells. There was no correlation between the location of the mitochondria and actin-containing filaments. This evidence suggests that mitochondria are directly or indirectly associated with microtubules in these cells.

Full text

PDF
3863

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Allen R. D. Evidence for firm linkages between microtubules and membrane-bounded vesicles. J Cell Biol. 1975 Feb;64(2):497–503. doi: 10.1083/jcb.64.2.497. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brinkley B. R., Fuller E. M., Highfield D. P. Cytoplasmic microtubules in normal and transformed cells in culture: analysis by tubulin antibody immunofluorescence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Dec;72(12):4981–4985. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.12.4981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Goldman R. D., Follett E. A. The structure of the major cell processes of isolated BHK21 fibroblasts. Exp Cell Res. 1969 Oct;57(2):263–276. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(69)90150-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Heggeness M. H., Ash J. F. Use of the avidin-biotin complex for the localization of actin and myosin with fluorescence microscopy. J Cell Biol. 1977 Jun;73(3):783–788. doi: 10.1083/jcb.73.3.783. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Heggeness M. H., Wang K., Singer S. J. Intracellular distributions of mechanochemical proteins in cultured fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Sep;74(9):3883–3887. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.9.3883. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Himes R. H., Burton P. R., Kersey R. N., Pierson G. B. Brain tubulin polymerization in the absence of "microtubule-associated proteins". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Dec;73(12):4397–4399. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.12.4397. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Holmes K. V., Choppin P. W. On the role of microtubules in movement and alignment of nuclei in virus-induced syncytia. J Cell Biol. 1968 Dec;39(3):526–543. doi: 10.1083/jcb.39.3.526. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kimes B. W., Brandt B. L. Characterization of two putative smooth muscle cell lines from rat thoracic aorta. Exp Cell Res. 1976 Mar 15;98(2):349–366. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(76)90446-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Murphy D. B., Borisy G. G. Association of high-molecular-weight proteins with microtubules and their role in microtubule assembly in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Jul;72(7):2696–2700. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.7.2696. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Murphy D. B., Tilney L. G. The role of microtubules in the movement of pigment granules in teleost melanophores. J Cell Biol. 1974 Jun;61(3):757–779. doi: 10.1083/jcb.61.3.757. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Olmsted J. B., Borisy G. G. Microtubules. Annu Rev Biochem. 1973;42:507–540. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.42.070173.002451. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Shelanski M. L., Gaskin F., Cantor C. R. Microtubule assembly in the absence of added nucleotides. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Mar;70(3):765–768. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.3.765. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith D. S., Järlfors U., Cameron B. F. Morphological evidence for the participation of microtubules in axonal transport. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1975 Jun 30;253:472–506. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1975.tb19223.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Smith D. S., Järlfors U., Cayer M. L. Structural cross-bridges between microtubules and mitochondria in central axons of an insect (Periplaneta americana). J Cell Sci. 1977;27:255–272. doi: 10.1242/jcs.27.1.255. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Snyder J. A., McIntosh J. R. Biochemistry and physiology of microtubules. Annu Rev Biochem. 1976;45:699–720. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.45.070176.003411. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tilney L. G., Porter K. R. Studies on microtubules in Heliozoa. I. The fine structure of Actinosphaerium nucleofilum (Barrett), with particular reference to the axial rod structure. Protoplasma. 1965;60(4):317–344. doi: 10.1007/BF01247886. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Van Vunakis H., Kaplan J., Lehrer H., Levine L. Immunogenicity of polylysine and polyornithine when complexed to phosphorylated bovine serum albumin. Immunochemistry. 1966 Sep;3(5):393–402. doi: 10.1016/0019-2791(66)90177-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. WASSERMAN E., LEVINE L. Quantitative micro-complement fixation and its use in the study of antigenic structure by specific antigen-antibody inhibition. J Immunol. 1961 Sep;87:290–295. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES