Abstract
I HAVE described (ref. 1 and O.B., unpublished) a method by which microtubules from blood platelets or brain may be isolated in an intact form. They are preserved in a medium containing glycerol and dimethyl sulphoxide and can be collected in large amounts by differential centrifugation. This procedure differs from the usual methods of isolation which begin with unpolymerised tubulin, the protein of which microtubules are comprised2,3, and has the advantage that structures associated with them in the cell are retained (O.B., unpublished). In the electron microscope these appear as a coating around the microtubule wall which is usually of an ill-defined amorphous nature (Fig. 1b).
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BEHNKE, O. An outer component of microtubules. Nature 257, 709–710 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257709a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257709a0
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