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 Movie Webpage redesigned by Robert Lindstrom
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       18 NEW MOVIES RECENTLY ADDED!
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Comments are welcome!

T4 bacteriophage MOVIE 1-This movie illustrates the tilt of a T4 bacteriophage. Notice the depression of the virus head asthe movie plays. Without any specimen motion, it is difficult to discern the depression. (TEM) 
Courtesy  Sheila Warren. 
File Size- 81KB
MOVIE 2-Saccharomyces cerevisiae.The motion of a freeze-fractured yeast cell is depicted in the movie above. Before the movie begins, one has no idea of depth perception; however, when the movie starts, one will immediately use his/her depth perception cues and be able to easily discern convex structures from concave structure. Notice the protruding portion of a membrane in the lower left corner. This is really a prominent tear of the freeze fracture replica protruding 90 degrees above the replica surface. The large, convex structure in the is the nucleus, with its prominent nuclear pores. There should be several concave depressions on the nucleus. This series of speicmen tilts was made using a eucentric goniometer stages on our Philips 420 transmission electron microscope. The stage can be tilted +- 60 degrees. Compare this movie with the 3-d images at: 
Courtesy  R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. and Sheila Warren. 
File Size- 206KB
Acetobacter xylinum MOVIE 3-Acetobacter xylinum synthesizing cellulose. In this video clip it is useful to observe the backward and forward motion of the Acetobacter cells. This movement is known as reversals. Although reversals are not completely understood, it is known that the motion is caused by cellulose synthesis rather than flagella. Recent research suggests that buildup of strain during the crystallization of cellulose may be responsible for these reversals. 
The linear elongation rate of cellulose from the surface of the bacterium can be used to calculate the rate of cellulose deposition. For example, a typical elongation rate of 2 um per min means that more than 10 8 glucose molecules are incorporated into cellulose per hour per bacterial cell. A static culture with a surface area of one acre could produce more than 20,000 pounds of cellulose per year (compare with 600 pounds per acre per year as a typcial yield for a bale of cotton per acre).For information on how to culture Acetobacter, click HERE
Time-lapse video by Martin Spiess, movie conversion courtesy Sheila Warren. 
File Size- 501KB
Acetobacter xylinum MOVIE 4-Acetobacter xylinum synthesizing cellulose. In this video clip notice the uncoiling of the Acetobacter cells. Like the reversals, the uncoiling motion is caused by cellulose synthesis. When the Acetobacter uncoils, bundles of cellulose ribbons can be seen in the background as dark grey filaments. These are sub-micron nano-structures. Notice that the Acetobacter cells continue to synthesize multiple cellulose ribbons even though they are in attached chains and incompletely separated. 
Time-lapse video by Martin Spiess, movie conversion courtesy  Sheila Warren. 
File Size- 1,245KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 5-Boergesenia forbesii synthesizing cellulose. This is a time-lapse video taken at 3 hours post-wounding and continuing for a period of 5 hours at one frame every 40 seconds (435 frames total). These images were taken under a polarized light microscope with an attached color CCD camera (Optronix Camera) coupled to a Panasonic optical disk recorder. The bright ring which forms around the Boergesenia aplanospore is due to the birefringence of the cellulose wall which is being synthesized around the newly formed cell. It is possible to correlate the quanity of cellulose being synthesized with the appearance and change in the birefringence. This is the first example of direct visualization of cellulose synthesis in a cell wall of a eukaryotic organism. 
Time lapse video by Andrew Bowling, movie conversion courtesy Sheila Warren.
File Size- 394KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 6-Boergesenia forbesii -completeprotoplast formation. Note the motion  of the protoplast during the budding phase in which individual segments are being formed. You will be greatly surprised at the final outcome of this movie.  It will look NOTHING like the beginning! 
 Courtesy Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 307KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 7-Boergesenia forbesii- higher magnification view of an early stage of protoplast formation. Note that the final separation of protoplasm occurs through the formation of a narrow bridge, ultimately separating the protoplast. Courtesy  Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 254KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 8-Boergesenia forbesii- a later stage of protoplast formation giving rise to spherical protoplasts. Courtesy  Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 100KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 9-Boergesenia forbesii-  sequence from initial cleavage to beginning separation of protoplasts. This takes place within 90 min after wounding. Courtesy  Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 340KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 10-Boergesenia forbesii- Excellent,complete sequence from initial cleavage to separation and formation of spherical protoplasts.  Courtesy  Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 539KB
Boergesenia forbesii MOVIE 11-Boergesenia forbesii-another higher magnification view showing details of the migration of protoplasm to from the initial stages of segmentation.   Courtesy Andrew Bowling. 
File Size- 163KB
Acetobacter cellulose MOVIE 12-Acetobacter cellulose exposed to cellulase (CBH I). When a complete cellulase mixture is added to the cellulose suspension (eg, CBHI, CBHII, endoglucanase, b-glucosidase, etc), a remarkable twisting motion is initiated. No living cells are present. This motion is believed to be the result of strain released as the microfibrils are being degraded by the cellulase. Experiments are in progress to determine the specific site and nature of this interesting dynamic motion. At present we do not know if only one or several cellulases are required for the induction of this motion.

Please examine this video carefully and run it several times. Look first at the large multistranded cable of cellulose microfibrils. The rotation is counter-clockwise. Next, look at the two cellulose ribbon bundles which are perpendicular to this large strand. At first, they are intact, but one of them literally "dissolves" as the cellulase action continues. Then on another try, focus your attention on the material at the right-hand side of the movie. You will see it dissolve also! To our knowledge, this is the first dynamic account of cellulase action. Video scenes, courtesy Robert Lindstrom and Andrew Bowling. Cellulase and bacterial cellulose, courtesty Yoshihiko Amano.
File Size- 146KB
Coleochaete scutata MOVIE 13- Coleochaete scutata hair cell rotation. In this unusual dynamic time lapse move made by RM Brown when he was in Germany in 1969, an algal  colony of Coleochaete cells is observed in which the basal cells oscillate while the hair cells undergo a continuous rotation. This rotation is believed to be the result of a directed secretory process through the hair cell protusions. Virtually nothing is known about the mechanism for such motion. Permission granted from the Institute fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film  Gottingen, Germany.

By the way, the IWF is one of the world's finest film institutes.  When in Germany, be sure to visit this fantastic research lab and search through the archives of thousands of scientific films. Many of these are now available on video for teaching and research. If you would like to review details of these movies I made, go to my IWF Movie Detail Page-Click HERE.
File Size- 406KB
Coleochaete scutata MOVIE 14-Coleochaete scutata hair cell rotation. This scene shows in detail an oblique view of a single hair cell rotating. The single chloroplast is quite obvious as it spins around in the hair cell's basal region. Permission granted from the Institute fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film  Gottingen, Germany.
File Size- 542KB
Golgi function-Prymnesium MOVIE 15-Prymnesium parvum Golgi apparatus dynamically imaged! To my knowledge, this is the only light microscopy imaging of a functioning Golgi apparatus in a living cell. Look at the arrow overlay which soon appears. In what looks like contractile vacules, the individual Golgi cisternae are imaged, forming initially as  flattened sacs, then enlarging as they move to the cell surface where they deposit scales via exocytosis . The scales are a modified cell wall. Notice the background for this webpage is is a Golgi-derived cellulosic scale from the alga, Pleurochrysis scherfellii. Permission granted from the Institute fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film  Gottingen, Germany. Coming soon! details of movies 15 and 16! 
File Size- 504KB
Golgi function MOVIE 16-Prymnesium parvum Golgi apparatus dynamically imaged! This second movie show the Golgi secretion of scales from an oblique view, with the scales being secreted perpendicular to the plane of the image. Permission granted from the Institute fur den Wissenschaftlichen Film  Gottingen, Germany. 
File Size- 582KB
Tradescantia-stomata-thru focus MOVIE 17-Tradescantia-two stomata with guard cells, resembling two eyes! This short video is a thru-focus on the lower surface of the leaf.
Video scenes, courtesy R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. Tradescantia, courtesy, Robert Jackson. 
File Size- 151KB
Linear acetylenic carbon MOVIE 18-Linear acetylenic carbon-This video begins with a boundary of linear acetylenic carbon (LAC) dried from an organic solvent onto a microscope slide. In the scene, water is added (bubble at the top left) which mixes with the LAC forming strand-like threads resulting in the viscous alignment of the  carbon chains which are comprised of at least several hundred carbon atoms each. LAC courtesy of Richard Lagow, Department of Chemistry, UT-Austin (see Lagow et al. Science267: p 362 1995).
Video scenes, courtesy R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. and Judith Sharp. 
File Size- 816KB
Linear acetylenic carbon MOVIE 19-Linear acetylenic carbon-This video begins with a boundary of linear acetylenic carbon (LAC) dried from an organic solvent onto a microscope slide. In the scene, water is added  which mixes with the LAC forming thread like structures within each of the clear areas resulting in the viscous alignment of the  carbon chains. LAC courtesy of Richard Lagow, Department of Chemistry, UT-Austin (see Lagow et al. Science 267: p 362 (1995)
Video scenes, courtesy Shelley Behlen. 
File Size- 118KB
Tradescantia MOVIE 20-Tradescantia hair cells imaged in polarized light. This video shows the first order red compensator addition colors as these birefringent hair cells are rotated 360 degrees. The birefringence due to the molecular order of cellulose microfibrils in the wall, is indicative of a precise, ordered deposition of cellulose within the wall.
Video scene, courtesy R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. 
File Size- 120KB
Paramylon MOVIE 21-Paramylon- These are crystalline grains of B-1,3 glucan from Euglena.This material also is known as "curdlan". The video shows dissolution the curdalan upon being treated with 1.0M NaOH.
Original materials supplied by Iain Cheeseman- Click HERE to learn more. Video scene, courtesy R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. 
File Size- 82KB
Tradescantia new MOVIE 22-Tradescantia staminal hair cells demonstrating cytoplasmic straming . There are several excellent scenes in this video. 
Video scene, courtesy R. Malcolm Brown, Jr. 
File Size- 376KB
 

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last updated: July 30, 1998