Electron microscopic studies with Escherichia coli revealed that bicyclomycin inhibits septum formation and converts the cells to filamentous forms. The antibiotic induced high undulation and numerous blebs of the outer membrane. Sometimes cytoplasmic contents leaked into the lumen of the bleb through a disrupted region of the membrane. Breakage of the outer membrane or blebs led to cell lysis....

Astral microtubules (MTs) are known to be important for cleavage furrow induction and spindle positioning, and loss of astral MTs has been reported to increase cortical contractility. To investigate the effect of excess astral MT activity, we depleted the MT depolymerizer mitotic centromere-associated kinesin (MCAK) from HeLa cells to produce ultra-long, astral MTs during mitosis. MCAK depletio...

Large impact-melt pockets in shergottites contain both Martian regolith components and sulfide/sulfite bleb clusters that yield high sulfur concentrations locally compared to bulk shergottites. The may be the source of excess shergottite melt pockets. To explore whether shock release secondary Fe-sulfates trapped host rock voids is a plausible mechanism generate clusters, we carried out recover...

In the mouse zygote and in two-cell stage embryos the inner leaflet of the nuclear envelope of pronuclei and that of blastomere and polar body II nuclei evaginate, forming multiple blebs within the perinuclear space, which contains a granular material. Blebbing exists only in oocytes activated by sperm in vivo or in vitro, or parthenogenetically by treatment with ethanol or puromycin. The germi...

The actin cytoskeleton usually lies beneath the plasma membrane. When the membrane-associated actin cytoskeleton is transiently disrupted or the intracellular pressure is increased, the plasma membrane detaches from the cortex and protrudes. Such protruded membrane regions are called blebs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying membrane blebbing are poorly understood. This study revealed...

The alginate biofilm-producing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii aerobically fixes nitrogen by oxygen-sensitive nitrogenases. Here we investigated the bacterial response to nitrogen/oxygen gas mixtures. A. vinelandii cells were cultured in nitrogen-free minimal media containing gas mixtures differing in their ratios of nitrogen and oxygen. The bacteria did not grow at oxygen concentrations >75% ...

The effects of energy depletion on two membrane-cytoskeletal linker proteins (ezrin and myosin-1 beta) and membrane bleb formation were studied in isolated rabbit proximal tubule cells. Measurements of cytoskeletal-membrane interactions by using the laser optic trap method revealed a stronger association of control tubule membrane with the apical cytoskeleton compared with the basal cytoskeleto...