Introduction to Cellular Motility and Intracellular Movement

by Charlotte Omoto

We may think of movement in terms of muscle and whole animal movement. However, at the microscopic level, there are movements that are equally dramatic, and arguably more important for life. These cellular and intracellular movements serve a variety of function in all organisms. In this short 3 day module, I will try to include a range of organisms from bacteria, fungi, vertebrate cells, and a sampling of the diversity of functions of cellular and intracellular movement.

My goals in this module are to:

1. introducing organisms and cells that are relatively easy to grow or obtain,
2. show experimental procedures using these cells to investigate movement
3. relate the motility in these cells to processes occuring in humans,
4. allow flexibility for student initiated inquiry

The organisms. The organisms I will show are: bacteria, slime mold, algae, protozoa, and cells from fish scales. The criteria for the organisms I use are: be inexpensive, easy to grow and maintain, relatively easy to manipulate so that students quickly feel confident in using them, and avoid the need to kill of vertebrates.

Relate the processes to human biology. The fact that we deal with organisms that are very distantly related to humans does NOT mean that the experiments need to be abstract or unconnected to human biology. In fact, I make a special point of emphasizing that very similar processes are important to human health and biology but it is a lot easier to study it in these cells than killing a rat and grinding up its liver or pithing a frog.

Fun experiments to show movement. The cellular processes we'll study are microscopic but nonetheless can be quite dramatic when they work, so I will point out key features to make the experiments work.

Student initiated inquiry. Once the basic experiments work, the students can design their own experiments within the framework of the basic experiment. Often, the students can then take "ownership" of the work, and do very good work.

Day 1: Chemotaxis by bacteria and the slime mold

Day 2: Introduction to protozoa and algae

Day 3: Movement of pigment granule in fish scales

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Biology bi98@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
CN 5281, Princeton NJ 08543-5281 Tel:(609)452-7007 Fax:(609)452-0066