Three dimensional structure of the Leishmania amastigote as revealed by computer-aided reconstruction from serial sections.
Computer-aided reconstruction from serial sections has been used to analyse the 3-dimensional structure of entire amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana and to determine the number, arrangement and volume of each organelle. In two reconstructions, the lysosome-like 'megasomes' were the most numerous organelle, there being 34 in one amastigote, and they comprised as much as 15% of the total cell volume. In contrast, as few as 9 glycosomes were present, accounting for less than 1% of the cell volume. The unitary nature of the mitochondrion was confirmed and its complex basket-like structure was revealed. The spatial arrangement of the cell organelles is here displayed in stereo-pairs.
D000818:Animals; D007894:Leishmania mexicana / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009940:Organoids / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012984:Software