A model for the pattern of deposition of microfibrils in the cell wall of Glaucocystis

Abstract

Freeze-fracturing of Glaucocystis nostochinearum Itzigsohn cells during cell-wall microfibril deposition indicates that unidirectionally polarized microfibril ends are localized in a "zone of synthesis" covering about 30% of the sarface area of the plasma membrane. Within this zone there are about 6 microfibril ends/μm(2) cell surface. It is proposed that microfibrils are generated by the passage of their tips over the cell surface and that the pattern of microfibril organization at the poles of the cells, in which microfibrils of alternate layers are interconnected at 3 "rotation centres", results directly from the pattern of this translation of microfibril tips. In a model of the deposition pattern it is proposed that the zone of synthesis may split into 3 sub-zones as the poles are approached, each sub-zone being responsible for the generation of one rotation centre. It is demonstrated that the microfibrillar component of the entire wall could be generated by the steady translation of the microfibril tips (at which synthesis is presumed to occur) over the cell surface at a rate of 0.25-0.5 μm min(-1). Microcinematography indicates that the protoplast rotates during cell-wall deposition, and it is proposed that this rotation may play a role in the generation of the microfibril deposition pattern.