Cell division and nuclear movement in the saccoderm desmidNetrium interruptus

Summary

During anaphase in thisNetrium, the reforming daughter nuclei hardly pause at the poles before they elongate and rapidly and smoothly move along the daughter cells in one of the grooves in the chloroplast. Ahead of each nucleus is a pointed mass of cytoplasm that is distinctly striated; straight, mobile strands of cytoplasm emanate from this region ahead of the nucleus. When the nucleus reaches the large vacuole that divides the two chloroplasts, it steadily slides over to the chloroplast surface distal to the cleavage furrow. It then stops moving and slowly expands into the normal interphase morphology.

Under the electron microscope, the chromosome-to-pole distance does not decrease much during anaphase (i.e., anaphase A is minimal) and so the half spindles remain about the same length by telophase. The poles of the open spindle are initially broad and contain typical spindle microtubules (MTs). These persist intact during anaphase and become focused upon a discrete Organizing Centre as the daughter nuclei reform. These MTs become a cone-shaped array that creates the pointed cytoplasmic mass ahead of the moving nucleus in live cells. Thus, this placoderm desmid behaves very likeClosterium during division and shows the lack of anaphase A, and the transformation of the telophase spindle into a MT-based motility system, now characteristic of many members of the Zygnematales.