E.4.c. Nocodazole Pretreatment <<Previous Problem Next Problem>>

To investigate what causes the ER-to-Golgi movement of GFP-VSVP, COS cells were incubated for 15 min in iced culture medium containing nocodazole (1 mg/ml), washed free of nocodazole and incubated at 32 ^oC in regular growth medium.  For comparison purposes, the previous figure and video are presented in the left-hand frame, the nocodazole figure and video in the center frame.  Consider both videos, noting the great difference in time elapsed, and answer the questions posed in the right-hand frame.  The video images were captured every 4 min.  The movie lasts about 9 sec, is run at 4 frames per sec, and the movement of the fluorescent protein is greatly speeded up about 240-fold.

[You can learn more about these phenomena and the following experiments by consulting the video essay by Presley, et al. 1998 Mol Biol. Cell 9:1617-1626. PMID9658158]