Caenorhabditis elegans spermatozoa are nonflagellated, ameboid cells that contain no F-actin yet are capable of crawling over solid surfaces. In this study, the role of cell surface membrane dynamics in locomotion were studied. Monoclonal antibodies against membrane proteins were generated and used to examine (1) the detailed pattern and mechanism of surface membrane movement, (2) the pattern and mechanism of insertion of new membrane components onto the spermatozoan surface, and (3) the effects of anti-cell surface protein antibodies on cell locomotion. I found that the general pattern of front-to-back membrane flow observed on other crawling metazoan cells also occurs on the pseudopod of C. elegans spermatozoa. Replacement of labelled membrane proteins lost to rearward flow occurs by a mechanism that inserts new protein onto the tips of numerous pseudopodial projections which contact the substrate during crawling, exactly where they are needed to expand the cell forward and create new sites of substrate adhesion. Membrane protein insertion occurs in the absence of cytoplasmic vesicles by a mechanism involving the post-translational, covalent attachment of lipid to the protein. Sperm do not crawl on naked glass, however, anti-cell surface antibodies immobilized on glass promote locomotion. This effect was concluded to be specific based, in part, on the ability of soluble antibody to stop locomotion in a concentration dependent fashion. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: B, page: 3478. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76206 |
| Contributors | PAVALKO, FREDRICK MICHAEL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 188 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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