Microtubule centers and the interphase microtubule cytoskeleton in amoebae of the cellular slime molds (Mycetozoans) Acytostelium leptosomum and Protostelium mycophaga.

We investigated the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton and microtubule centers (MTC) in undifferentiated amoebae by indirect immunofluorescence with six monoclonal antitubulin antibodies, and by transmission electron microscopy and immunogold ultracytochemistry. Interphase amoebae of both species contain a distinct cytoplasmic complex of MTs, which is more elaborate in Protostelium mycophaga. In Acytostelium leptosomum amoebae a single MTC is attached to each interphase nucleus at its pointed end, as in the other dictyostelid cellular slime molds Dictyostelium discoideum and Polysphondylium violaceum. Ultrastructurally, MTCs of A. leptosomum also resemble those of these two species: They consist of an electron-opaque core shaped like a stout rod, which is embedded, together with nodules, in a fuzzy matrix. The nodules are the points of origin of the MTs. In most amoebae of P. mycophaga there are two MTCs on opposite sides of and close to the nucleus, but many amoebae also contain a variable number of MTCs that are remote from the nucleus. Nucleus-associated and "remote" MTCs are structurally identical. They consist of a ring-shaped core with inner and outer diameters of ca. 130 nm and 340 nm. A plug sits in the ring, and satellites are connected to the core by fine fibrils. The satellites are the points of origin of MTs. New MTCs are apparently formed during mitosis, the parent MTC probably serving as a template for the genesis of a new ring. The results support the notion that phylogenetically related organisms have similarly constructed MTCs and that these are dissimilar in less closely related organisms.