Swelling of Sperm Tails accompanying Adenosine Triphosphate Hydrolysis

Abstract

SPERM tails¹ and organs of similar construction² will hydrolyse adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and presumably this property is intimately concerned with the movements exhibited by these organs. Unless the moving tail is soon to stop work a cycle of events must occur and must be repeated many times. During part of this cycle ATP is hydrolysed and this hydrolysis is accompanied by certain physical changes about which nothing is known. These physical changes must then be reversed. To complicate matters still further, different parts of the cycle may be taking place at one and the same time in different parts of the tail. An outstanding problem then is to separate this cycle into its component parts and investigate each part individually.