Video showing Vorticella (bell-shaped protozoans), ciliates attached to filamentous alga. The myoneme within the stalks contract with one of the fastest known movements in nature. Images were collecte...

Freeze fracture of the plasma membrane and outer alveolar membrane of the pellicle of V. microstoma. The surface of Vorticella is encircled by rings which follow the septa of underlying alveoli. In th...

This freeze fracture view of the pellicle of V. microstoma near the aboral end of the zooid shows the region where the width of each circumferential alveolus is narrower and thus the strings of fractu...

Freeze fracture of the plasma membrane and outer alveolar membrane of the pellicle of V. microstoma. The surface of Vorticella is encircled by rings which follow the septa of underlying alveoli. In th...

Freeze fracture of Vorticella microstoma. This cell had been placed in a relaxing medium of saturated sodium pyrophosphate plus 0.01M EDTA (Stain Tech. 47:37, 1972) for 3 hours. A myoneme enclosed by ...

This freeze fracture view of the pellicle of V. microstoma near the aboral end of the zooid shows the region where the width of each circumferential alveolus is narrower and thus the strings of fractu...

Freeze fracture of Vorticella microstoma. This cell had been placed in a relaxing medium of saturated sodium pyrophosphate plus 0.01M EDTA (Stain Tech. 47:37, 1972) for 3 hours. A myoneme enclosed by ...

The scopula, stalk-forming region, is outlined by a circle of basal bodies that produce short modified cilia. Other basal bodies lie within this circle. The sheath is secreted outside the circle of ci...

Mitochondria of Vorticella convallaria like other ciliates, have tubular cristae arising from their inner membranes. However, they also have a bundle of filaments (DNA?) that extend through the center...

The pellicular pore consists of the invaginated plasma membrane that penetrates the alveolus as well as the epiplasm and ends as a clathrin-coated pit. TEM taken on 3/14/72 by R. Allen with Hitachi HU...