The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol 77, 805-826, Copyright © 1978 by The Rockefeller University Press
Surface organization and composition of Euglena. II. Flagellar mastigonemes
GB Bouck, A Rogalski and A Valaitis
The surface of the Euglena flagellum is coated with about 30,000 fine
filaments of two distinct types. The longer of these nontubular
mastigonemes (about 3 micron) appear to be attached to the paraflagellar
rod whereas the shorter nontubular mastigonemes (about 1.5 micron) are the
centrifugally arranged portions of a larger complex, which consists of an
attached unit parallel to and outside of the flagellar membrane. Units are
arranged laternally in near registration and longitudinally overlap by
one-half of a unit length. Rows of mastigoneme units are firmly attached to
the axoneme microtubules or to the paraflagellar rod as evidenced by their
persistence after removal of the flagellar membrane with neutral
detergents. SDS-acrylamide gels of whole flagella revealed about 30
polypeptides, of which two gave strong positive staining with the periodic
acid-Schiff (PAS) procedure. At least one of these two bands
(glycoproteins) has been equated with the surface mastigonemes by parallel
analysis of isolated and purified mastigonemes, particularly after phenol
extraction. The faster moving glycoprotein has been selectively removed
from whole flagella and from the mastigoneme fraction with low
concentrations of neutral detergents at neutral or high pH. The larger
glycoprotein was found to be polydisperse when electrophoresed through 1%
agarose/SDS gels. Thin-layer chromatography of hydrolysates of whole
flagella or of isolated mastigonemes has indicated that the major
carbohydrate moiety is the pentose sugar, xylose, with possibly a small
amount of glucose and an unknown minor component.
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