Abstract
It is well established that the basis for flagellar and ciliary movements is ATP-dependent sliding between adjacent doublet microtubules. However, the mechanism for converting microtubule sliding into flagellar and ciliary movements has long remained unresolved. The author has developed new sperm models that use bull spermatozoa divested of their plasma membrane and midpiece mitochondrial sheath by Triton X-100 and dithiothreitol. These models enable the observation of both the oscillatory sliding movement of activated doublet microtubules and flagellar bend formation in the presence of ATP. A long fiber of doublet microtubules extruded by synchronous sliding of the sperm flagella and a short fiber of doublet microtubules extruded by metachronal sliding exhibited spontaneous oscillatory movements and constructed a one beat cycle of flagellar bending by alternately actuating. The small sliding displacement generated by metachronal sliding formed helical bends, whereas the large displacement by synchronous sliding formed planar bends. Therefore, the resultant waveform is a half-funnel shape, which is similar to ciliary movements.
Highlights
It is widely accepted that flagellar and ciliary movements are generated by active sliding between the adjacent doublet microtubules of the axoneme
The different ways of regulating microtubule sliding using Ca2+, cAMP, and MgATP2- lead to various types of flagellar movements, including planar or helical bending in sea urchin spermatozoa [1]
Most fibers extruded from the sperm flagella, composed of the
Summary
It is widely accepted that flagellar and ciliary movements are generated by active sliding between the adjacent doublet microtubules of the axoneme. The oscillatory microtubule sliding movement and the flagellar bend formation were investigated using the new sperm models at various Ca2+ concentrations.
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