The transverse microtubular ribbon, consisting of ~3 microtubules, extends to the cell's left of the basal body and rises to the top of the ridge where it ends. Thus the proximal end of a pair of basa...

The body of the trichocyst is composed of a core and a cortex which have slightly different electron diffracting properties, thus the cortex is darker since it scatters more electrons. An electron tra...

A tangential section through the cell’s surface show the pairs of basal bodies in cross section. The ends of kinetodesmal fibers point anteriorly in the cell, the postciliary ribbons arise from the ...

Following discharge, remnant trichocyst membrane does not appear to directly enter the trans Golgi network for reuse in new trichocyst formation. Rather the HRP will be transferred to lysosomes (not s...

A high resolution micrograph of the transverse microtubular ribbon, consisting of ~3 microtubules, extends to the cell's left of the basal body and rises to the top of the ridge where it ends. Thus th...

High resolution image of the b-tubulin immunogold labeled microtubules that arise from the apex of the cytoproct ridge and pass to the spent DV membrane. Trichocyst and trichocyst tip included in this...

The proximal end of the basal body is sometimes the origin of other single microtubules or bundles of microtubules that extend deeper into the cell’s endoplasm. These guide trichocysts, tip first, t...

The cortex of Paramecium consists of a plasma membrane and alveolar sacs, with their inner and outer alveolar membranes that limit the area in which endocytosis can easily occur to only the parasomal ...

Microtubules sometimes extend deep into the cytosol from the basal bodies. They serve to guide the trichocysts to their docking sites at the plasma membrane (see Plattner, Westphal and Tiggemann, J. C...