Skip to main content
PMC home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1982 Jan;69(1):125–129. doi: 10.1104/pp.69.1.125

Chilling-Susceptibility of the Blue-Green Alga Anacystis nidulans1

III. LIPID PHASE OF CYTOPLASMIC MEMBRANE

Taka-Aki Ono 1,2, Norio Murata 1,3
PMCID: PMC426159  PMID: 16662143

Abstract

The lipid phase of cytoplasmic membrane was studied by freeze-fracture electron microscopy in the chilling-susceptible blue-green alga, Anacystis nidulans. At growth temperatures, intramembrane particles were distributed at random in the fracture faces of cytoplasmic membrane, whereas, at chilling temperatures, the fracture faces were composed of particle-free and particle-containing regions. These findings indicate that lipids of the cytoplasmic membrane were in the liquid-crystalline state at the growth temperatures and in the phase-separation state at the chilling temperatures. Temperatures for the onset of phase separation were 5 and 16°C in cells grown at 28 and 38°C, respectively.

In comparison, another blue-green alga, Anabaena variabilis, which is not susceptible to chilling, was also examined by the freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The intramembrane particles were distributed at random in the fracture faces of cytoplasmic membrane at the growth, as well as at the chilling, temperatures.

The results in this and previous studies suggest that the chilling susceptibility of A. nidulans is a result of irreversible leakage of ions from the cytoplasm when the lipids of cytoplasmic membrane are in the phase-separation state at low temperatures.

Full text

PDF
125

Images in this article

126Image
on p.126
128Image
on p.128

Selected References

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

  1. Armond P. A., Staehelin L. A. Lateral and vertical displacement of integral membrane proteins during lipid phase transition in Anacystis nidulans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Apr;76(4):1901–1905. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.4.1901. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Branton D., Bullivant S., Gilula N. B., Karnovsky M. J., Moor H., Mühlethaler K., Northcote D. H., Packer L., Satir B., Satir P. Freeze-etching nomenclature. Science. 1975 Oct 3;190(4209):54–56. doi: 10.1126/science.1166299. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Furtado D., Williams W. P., Brain A. P., Quinn P. J. Phase separations in membranes of Anacystis nidulans grown at different temperatures. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1979 Aug 7;555(2):352–357. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(79)90174-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Kleemann W., McConnell H. M. Lateral phase separations in Escherichia coli membranes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1974 Apr 29;345(2):220–230. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(74)90260-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Murata N. Relationships between the Transition of the Physical Phase of Membrane Lipids and Photosynthetic Parameters in Anacystis nidulans and Lettuce and Spinach Chloroplasts. Plant Physiol. 1975 Oct;56(4):508–517. doi: 10.1104/pp.56.4.508. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Murata N. Temperature dependence of chlorophyll a fluorescence in relation to the physical phase of membrane lipids algae and higher plants. Plant Physiol. 1975 Dec;56(6):791–796. doi: 10.1104/pp.56.6.791. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ono T. A., Murata N. Chilling Susceptibility of the Blue-green Alga Anacystis nidulans: I. EFFECT OF GROWTH TEMPERATURE. Plant Physiol. 1981 Jan;67(1):176–181. doi: 10.1104/pp.67.1.176. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ono T. A., Murata N. Chilling Susceptibility of the Blue-green Alga Anacystis nidulans: II. STIMULATION OF THE PASSIVE PERMEABILITY OF CYTOPLASMIC MEMBRANE AT CHILLING TEMPERATURES. Plant Physiol. 1981 Jan;67(1):182–187. doi: 10.1104/pp.67.1.182. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ono T. A., Murata N. Temperature dependence on the delayed fluorescence of chlorophyll a in blue-green algae. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1977 May 11;460(2):220–229. doi: 10.1016/0005-2728(77)90208-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sato N., Murata N., Miura Y., Ueta N. Effect of growth temperature on lipid and fatty acid compositions in the blue-green algae, Anabaena variabilis and Anacystis nidulans. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1979 Jan 29;572(1):19–28. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Tsukamoto Y., Ueki T., Mitsui T., Ono T. A., Murata N. Relationship between growth temperature of Anacystis nidulans and phase transition temperature of its thylakoid membranes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1980 Nov 18;602(3):673–675. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(80)90345-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Verkleij A. J., Ververgaert P. H., van Deenen L. L., Elbers P. F. Phase transitions of phospholipid bilayers and membranes of Acholeplasma laidlawii B visualized by freeze fracturing electron microscopy. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1972 Nov 2;288(2):326–332. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(72)90253-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Verwer W., Ververgaert P. H., Leunissen-Bijvelt J., Verkleij A. J. Particle aggregation in photosynthetic membranes of the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1978 Oct 11;504(1):231–234. doi: 10.1016/0005-2728(78)90021-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES