ELECTRON MICROSCOPY OF ULTRATHIN SECTIONS OF SPIRILLUM SERPENS

Abstract

Cells of S. serpens were methacrylate embedded at 72[degree] C. Ultrathin sections cut with glass knives and a Fernandez-Moran (Caracas, Venezuela) diamond knife indicated the existence of a cell wall, cyto-plasmic membrane, and a variety of cytoplasmic inclusions. Fine fibrils, probably representing flagellar constituents, and budding cells were noted. On aging of the cultures, a cellular component, thought to be chromatin, changed appearance successively from small, widely dispersed particles to delicate fibrillar networks to coarse axial chains, which subsequently fragmented.