FREEZE-FRACTURE STUDY OF BODO SP (KINETOPLASTIDA, BODONIDAE)

Freeze-fracture technique was used to analyse the structure of convent ionally fixed and quickly frozen Bodo sp., a free-living kinetoplastid . In the former method, chemically fixed and cryopreserved cells prese nted a corrugated membrane pattern in the flagella and cell body surfa ces. In the latter, however, replicas hom quickly frozen unfixed flage llates showed membranes with a smoother aspect, allowing the observati on of intramembranous particles (IMPs) on the fracture faces, hardly d etectable in previously fixed samples. The IMPs were randomly distribu ted throughout the cell surface, except in the sparsely seen short IMP rows. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.