Fig. 1

Pattern of cilia and basal bodies in Paramecium. Images are projections of confocal images taken at the level of the ventral side of the cell. For details in immunofluorescence procedures, see [1]. Bars 20 μm. Insets:  ×5. a Ciliary pattern. The cell is labelled with an antibody directed against monoglycylated tubulin. The anterior left half-quarter appears brighter because it is more densely ciliated than other parts of the cell. Beating of these cilia guides the water current towards the cell centre where the oral apparatus (OA) is located. At the posterior pole of the cell are few longer non-motile cilia. b Pattern of the basal body-associated rootlets. Green: microtubular rootlets, decorated with an anti-acetylated tubulin; red: striated rootlets, decorated with an antibody specific for striatins [2]. Striated rootlets of successive basal bodies cluster to form a continuous bundle along the right of the basal body row. Cartoon: one (top) or two (bottom) transverse microtubular ribbons are detected in association with single or paired basal bodies, respectively. Circle: paired basal bodies with two transverse ribbons. OA oral apparatus. c Pattern of cortical units. Red: epiplasm units, decorated with an antibody specific for epiplasmins [3]; green: basal bodies labelled with an anti-polyglutamylated tubulin [4]. OA oral apparatus