Abstract: | The effect of pH and ATP was studied on isolated cytoplasm of Amoeba proteus. These two parameters were shown to influence both the motility and the organization of actin filaments in the isolated cytoplasm. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that there is a relationship between the motility and the polymeric state of actin. When the isolated cytoplasm is non-motile, actin is highly polymerized into long filaments arranged parallel in bundles. When this cytoplasm is motile, however, actin can either be weakly polymerized, i.e. observed as few short filaments, or can be polymerized in long branched filaments forming a loose network. |