Summary
Chromosomes and chloroplasts of the marine dinoflagellate Prorocentrum micans were investigated electron-microscopically, using standard glutaraldehyde fixation, followed by protease treatment and post-osmication. The DNA-fibrils of chromosomes and chloroplasts which usually appear coagulated after standard aldehyde fixation, recover their natural arrangement within the organelle after protease-digestion. Also the DNA-fibrils of the chloroplast appear in a comparatively high degree of structural order of a kind previously reported only from dinoflagellate chromosomes and bacterial nucleoids.
The specific retention of DNA-structures after protease treatment is accompanied by enhanced contrast of the single DNA-fibrils, probably caused by adsorption of proteinaceous digestion products which are again removable by prolonged enzyme treatment.
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Kowallik, K.V. The use of proteases for improved presentation of DNA in chromosomes and chloroplasts of Prorocentrum micans (Dinophyceae) . Archiv. Mikrobiol. 80, 154–165 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00411880
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00411880