The single mitochondrion of the kinetoplastid parasite Crithidia fasciculata is a dynamic network
Fig 3
Confocal analysis of mitochondrial shape during the cell cycle of C. fasciculata.
A) Examples of maximum projections of fixed, synchronized C. fasciculata mitoGFP-expressing cells as imaged by confocal microscopy. Mitochondria are shown in green and DAPI in red. Cell cycle stages are shown above each row. The first row shows all “closed” networks. Rows 2–4 show networks that are “open” at the anterior end (containing tubule end points rather than loops). Each image is oriented such that the anterior of the cell is on the right. Scale bar is 5 μm. B) Quantitation of the percent of cells (n = 114) in each cell cycle stage that have closed or open mitochondrial networks at their anterior end. C) Mitochondrial area in z-stack maximum projections as a function of cell cycle stage (n = 115). **** indicates P-value <0.0001 by Mann-Whitney test. D) The numbers of mitochondrial nodes, or branch points, were counted manually in maximum projections (n = 115) *** indicates P-value of 0.0002 by unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction.