Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access published online on September 12, 2007
Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm117
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contribution of anaphase B to chromosome separation in higher plant cells estimated by image processing
1Department of Integrated Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwanoha 5-1-5, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8562 Japan
2Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education, Gunma University, Aramaki-cho 4-2, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8510 Japan
Corresponding author, Tomomi Hayashi. FSB701, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwanoha, Kasiwa, 277-8562 Japan, TEL: +81-4-7136-3708, FAX: +81-4-7136-3706, E-mail: kk077514{at}mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
| Abstract |
|---|
Anaphase can be categorized into the two sub-phases of anaphase A and B, but anaphase B has not been clearly described in higher plant cells. In this study, we time-sequentially followed the dynamics of chromosome segregation and spindle elongation in tobacco BY-2 cells using histone-RFP and GFP-tubulin, respectively. Construction of kymographs and determination of the positions of chromosomes and spindle edges by image processing revealed that anaphase B contributed to about 40 % of the chromosome separation in distance, which is comparable to that in animal cells. These results suggest that higher plant cells potentially possess the process of anaphase B.
Keywords: Anaphase - Fluorescent proteins - Image processing.