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Science 24 June 1983:
Vol. 220. no. 4604, pp. 1385 - 1387
DOI: 10.1126/science.220.4604.1385
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Articles

Cell Polarity: Endogenous Ion Currents Precede and Predict Branching in the Water Mold Achyla

DARRYL L. KROPF 1, MARK D. A. LUPA 2, JOHN H. CALDWELL 3, and FRANKLIN M. HAROLD 4

1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, and Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262
2 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Jewish Hospital and Research Center
3 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, and Department of Physiology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
4 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, and Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

The hyphae of the water mold Achyla bisexualis generate electrical currents that enter the growing tips and leave farther back. An inward-moving current also precedes branching and predicts the site of branch emergence; during the branching process, the current at the original tip declines or even reverses transiently without any change in growth rate. The inward current probably acts as an early signal during branch differentiation. The flow of specific ions rather than the flow of electrical charge probably serves to localize growth.

Submitted on November 15, 1982
Revised on February 4, 1983


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Pattern formation of stationary transcellular ionic currents in Fucus.
M. Leonetti, E. Dubois-Violette, and F. Homble (2004)
PNAS 101, 10243-10248
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Radial F-actin arrays precede new hypha formation in Saprolegnia: implications for establishing polar growth and regulating tip morphogenesis.
C Bachewich and I. Heath (2000)
J. Cell Sci. 111, 2005-2016
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