UltrastructureIn electron microscopy, the ultrastructure of any biological specimen is the detail that can be observed by electron microscopy. Most often, single cells or organs inside the cell are described as having ultrastructure. Without electron microscopy, we would have little or no idea of what a cell's molecular structure is like.
The examination of the ultrastructure has given us deep understanding of processes like flagellum motility; transportation in the cell via the endoplasmic reticulum; how the mitochondria work and details about their DNA; and what exactly is going in inside a plant cell when chloroplasts carry on photosynthesis.
In cladistics, the ultrastructure of the cell is often used to provide evidence of real relationships between species, whether microscopic or macroscopic, when the larger appearance of these species makes it difficult to determine. The study of the ultrastructure in cladistics has helped simplify and verify a number of otherwise confusing relationships, but it has also led to much confusion when equivalent possibilities show up. In these cases, the principle of simplicity, an idea based on Occam's razor, is applied, and the simplest arrangement of relationships is assumed to be the correct one. Theories of molecular evolution are also used to determine these relationships, whereby the most likely of several possibilities is chosen based on the probability of molecular-level changes between species.
Web Resources On Ultrastructure
Virus Ultrastructure
Cellular Ultrastructure
Ultrastructure images gallery
Book Resources On UltrastructureCell and Tissue Ultrastructure by Cross & Mercer
Functional Ultrastructure : An Atlas of Tissue Biology and Pathology by Pavelka & Roth
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