THE COINCIDENT DISTRIBUTION OF CALCIUM-RICH MEMBRANES AND KINETOCHORE FIBERS AT METAPHASE IN LIVING ENDOSPERM CELLS OF HAEMANTHUS

Authors:
  • SWSM WOLNIAK
    SM WOLNIAK
  • PHPK HEPLER
    PK HEPLER
  • WJWT JACKSON
    WT JACKSON
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  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 25  (1) , 171-174
    • PMID:7285950
Abstract
Chlorotetracycline (CTC) fluorescence was coupled with polarized light microscopic observations of living mitotic endosperm cells of Haemanthus to compare the spatial distributions of Ca2+-rich endomembranes in the spindle with that of the kinetochore fibers during metaphase. In either control cells or in those treated with the microtubule-stabilizing drug, taxol, the metaphase distribution of Ca2+-rich membranes (bright spindle fluorescence) coincides exactly with the distribution of kinetochore-fiber birefringence. [The endomembrane system associated with the mitotic apparatus may function in the regulation of the spindle, most specifically, through the controlled release of sequestered Ca2+.].