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Click on the links below to see the larger images.

Cells! is produced by R. Howard Berg as an educational public service of the Danforth Center.  This tool makes available images of cellular structures for use in teaching.  Use the left-hand menu or browse through the larger images below.

The images shown were produced using instrumentation in the 
Integrated Microscopy Facility  at the Danforth Center 
and illustrate a variety of cellular characteristics and structures.  
You may copy and use the images for educational purposes only, free of charge.


Abbreviations:
G=Golgi stack; M=mitochondrion;
 Mt=microtubule;
 N=nucleus;
 Nu=nucleolus; P=plastid;
Pl=plasma membrane; T=tonoplast;
 V=vacuole;
W=plant cell wall

 

nucleus

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You can use the thumbnails on the left 
or click on the word(s) above to navigate to images.


These images are copyrighted to the Danforth Center and are not to be sold 
or published without the written permission of the Danforth Center.

We would like to acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation as the 
source of funds to purchase the instruments used in making these images.

Light micrographs were made using a Zeiss LSM 5210 Meta NLO confocal/multiphoton 
system and are of living cells.

Electron micrographs were made using a Leo 912 AB transmission electron microscope.  
These thin section images are of samples that were physically fixed by ultra-rapid freezing 
(about 15 milliseconds) in a high pressure freezer, which prevents ice crystal formation 
which otherwise would destroy cell structure.  Compared to chemical fixation, ultra-rapid 
fixation produces the most life-like images currently possible in electron microscopy.



 

 

A transmission electron micrograph of a highly lobed nucleus in a nematode-induced plant giant cell.  Some DNA is present as heterochromatin (dark patches), but most is euchromatin (not condensed and present as thin fibers not easily seen in thin sections).  Arrows point to nuclear pores.  These pores are openings in the double-membraned nuclear envelope and contain a complex of over 100 proteins that regulate transport of macromolecules into and out of the nucleus.  The pore diameter is about 150 nanometers.