ER on the Move
As a cell moves through its environment, it brings its internal organelles along with it. This video shows how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) within a cell moves as the cell migrates.
DownloadER on the Move
As a cell moves through its environment, it brings its internal organelles along with it. This video shows how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) within a cell moves as the cell migrates.
What am I looking at?
This video offers a close to real-time view of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) moving at the leading edge of a monkey kidney cell as it migrates across a cell culture dish. You can see new ER tubules forming on the left side of the video as the cell moves from right to left across the screen.
Biology in the background
The ER is the protein synthesis and processing center of a cell and is also where some lipids are synthesized. There are two types of ER in a cell: rough ER and smooth ER. The rough ER membrane is studded with ribosomes, where proteins are synthesized. The smooth ER is where some lipids, phospholipids, and steroids are synthesized and some protein folding and processing occur. The rough ER is composed of an interconnected network of flattened, membrane-enclosed sacs known as cisternae. The smooth ER has a more interconnected tubular structure. As a cell moves, the ER sends extensions of its tubules into the new space that’s created as the membrane moves forward.
An ER tubule can range in size from 50 nanometers to 100 nanometers, or roughly 1,500 to 750 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
Technique
This video was created using confocal microscopy.
Andy Moore, HHMI's Janelia Research Campus