Summary
Mitosis of nuclei in vegetative hyphae of the fungusBasidiobolus ranarum has been studied by electron microscopy. Cells fixed with glutaraldehyde and OsO4 were embedded in Vestopal. Sections were obtained of single cells whose mitotic status was known. Attention was paid to the behaviour of the microtubules, the nuclear envelope and the nucleolus. Nuclear division begins with the dilution and rearrangement of nucleolar material and the gradual breakdown of the nuclear envelope. At this stage the nucleus is surrounded by a sheet of closely packed microtubules. Some of these penetrate into the nucleus through gaps in the envelope. Dissolution of the envelope is followed or accompanied by the development of an extensive labyrinth of membranous cisternae which persists at the periphery of the division site through mitosis and probably contributes material to the envelopes of the daughter nuclei. The drum-shaped spindle of metaphase is composed of large numbers of microtubules aligned parallel to each other. Many of them are associated with chromosomes. Metaphase is soon followed by the movement of dense masses of nucleolar material and chromosomes to the poles of the division figure to form the socalled “end plates”. Microtubules extend into the end plates but not beyond. Neither centrioles nor “centriolar plaques” have been seen.
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Tanaka, K. Mitosis in the fungusBasidiobolus ranarum as revealed by electron microscopy. Protoplasma 70, 423–440 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275768
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275768