A note concerning bacterial cell walls, mitochondria and nuclei

Abstract

I N a recent article in this journal by Bisset (1) the following paragraphs appear: “A somewhat different appearance is seen in Fig. 9, which represents the condition seen frequently in M. tuberculosis, when it is heat-fixed and stained. The cell contents have shrunken away from the unstained cell wall, and appear as a string of granules. In a recent study, Mudd et al. (11)2 have chosen to interpret these as ‘mitochondria’.” --“If bacteria of this type are stained very briefly with aqueous basic dyes, the most obvious structures which appear are the growing points and cytoplasmic septa (Fig. 14). These have been confused with the nuclear structures by some observers (7), and with mitochondria (11).2” --“The misinterpretation of appearances of this type is, in the opinion of the author, responsible for reports of classical mitotic spindles in bacilli, extra cytoplasmic spore nuclei, mitochondria and other observations which are discussed in the text.”