- 著者
- Kentaro Ozawa Hirotaka Taomori Masayuki Hoshida Ituki Kunita Sigeru Sakurazawa Hajime Honda
- 出版者
- The Biophysical Society of Japan
- 雑誌
- Biophysics and Physicobiology (ISSN:21894779)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.16, pp.1-8, 2019 (Released:2019-01-09)
- 参考文献数
- 27
- 被引用文献数
- 2 4
The movements of single actin filaments along a myosin-fixed glass surface were observed under a conventional fluorescence microscope. Although random at a low concentration, moving directions of filaments were aligned by the presence of over 1.0 mg/mL of unlabeled filaments. We found that actin filaments when at the intermediate concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 mg/mL, formed winding belt-like patterns and moved in a two-directional manner along the belts. These patterns were spread over a millimeter range and found to have bulged on the glass in a three-dimensional manner. Filaments did not get closer than about 37.5 nm to each other within each belt-pattern. The average width and the curvature radius of the pattern did not apparently change even when the range of actin concentrations was between 0.05 and 1.0 mg/mL or the sliding velocity between 1.2 and 3.2 μm/sec. However, when the length of filaments was shortened by ultrasonic treatments or the addition of gelsolin molecules, the curvature radius became small from 100 to 60 μm. These results indicate that this belt-forming nature of actin filaments may be due to some inter-filament interactions.
- 著者
- Akihiko Yamagishi Shin-ichi Yokobori Yoshitaka Yoshimura Masamichi Yamashita Hirofumi Hashimoto Takashi Kubota Hajime Yano Junichi Haruyama Makoto Tabata Kensei Kobayashi Hajime Honda Yuichi Utsumi Tsunemasa Saiki Takashi Itoh Atsuo Miyakawa Kenji Hamase Takeshi Naganuma Hajime Mita Kenichi Tonokura Sho Sasaki Hideaki Miyamoto
- 出版者
- 日本宇宙生物科学会
- 雑誌
- Biological Sciences in Space (ISSN:09149201)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.24, no.2, pp.67-82, 2010 (Released:2012-06-26)
- 参考文献数
- 114
- 被引用文献数
- 1 12
Liquid water is considered to be critical for life. Gibbs free energy is another factor that is important to sustain life for long durations. Gibbs free energy is obtained by reactions between reductants and oxidants, or from any other non-equilibrium state of matter. As an example, aerobic organisms use carbohydrates and oxygen to obtain energy. Many types of chemoautotrophic mechanisms are known for this process as well. On the surface of Mars, methane and oxidative compounds such as ferric oxide, sulfate and perchloride, which could provide redox-derived Gibbs free energy, have been detected. Iron-dependent methane oxidizing bacteria have been found in marine environments on Earth. This finding suggests the possible presence of methane-oxidizing bacteria on the Mars surface, if the local thermal environment and other resources permit proliferation and metabolism of bacteria. Our project aims to search for methane-oxidizing microbes on the Mars surface. Martian soil will be sampled from a depth of about 5 - 10 cm below the surface, where organisms are expected to be protected from the harsh hyper-oxidative environment of the Mars surface. Small particles less than 0.1 mm or 1 mm will be sieved from the sample, before being transferred to the analysis section by a micro-actuator. The particles will be stained with a cocktail of fluorescent reagents, and examined by fluorescence microscopy. A combination of fluorescent dyes has been selected to identify life forms in samples. A membrane-specific dye or a combination of dyes will be used to detect membranes surrounding the "cell". An intercalating fluorescent dye such as SYBR Green will be used to detect genetic compounds such as DNA. A substrate dye that emits fluorescence upon cleavage by a catalytic reaction will be used to detect the catalytic activity of the "cell". A combination of staining reagents has been chosen based on the definition of life. A membrane separating a cell from the ambient environment may lead to identification of an "individual". DNA or genetic material is required for "replication" of the life form. Catalytic reactions carried out by enzymes drive "metabolism". This combination of strategies will also be useful for detecting pre-biotic organic material as well as remnants of ancient life. Hydrolysis of the polymers in the "cell" followed by HPLC or soft ionization MS for amino acid analysis will be effective for examining whether Martian life is identical to or different from terrestrial life. The number and type of the amino acids as well as their chirality will be analyzed to distinguish whether the polymers are contaminants from Earth.