Microtubules as key cytoskeletal elements in cellular transport and shape changes:  their expected responses to space environments.
Application of reference standard reagents to alternatively depolymerize or stabilize microtubules in a cell that undergoes very regular cytoskeleton-dependent shape changes provides a model system in which some expected components of the environments of spacecraft and space can be tested on Earth for their effects on the cytoskeleton.  The fertilized eggs of Ilyanassa obsoleta undergo polar lobe formation by repeated, dramatic, constriction and relaxation of a microfilamentous band localized in the cortical cytoplasm and activated by microtubules.
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Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506, USA.
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D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D016764:Cell Polarity; D048429:Cell Size; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000494:pharmacology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012908:Snails / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013026:Space Flight; D014893:Weightlessness
D004785:Environmental Pollutants