MITOSIS AND CELL DIVISION IN CYLINDROCAPSA GEMINELLA (CHLOROPHYCEAE)1

Abstract

ABSTRACTMitosis and cell division were studied in the green alga Cylindrocapsa geminella Wolle with transmission electron microscopy. Vegetative cells possess a parietal, lobed chloroplast, and a central pyrenoid. Prophase and metaphase nuclei are surrounded by 1–3 layers of perinuclear endoplasmic reticulum. At early prophase a small number of perinuclear microtubules (MTs) are present while at late prophase MTs are concentrated at the presumptive spindle poles. At the same time, MTs begin to appear in the nucleoplasm. Metaphase spindles are diamond‐shaped and centric. During telophase, centrioles migrate towards the center of the equatorial zone, presumably guided by a small group of perinuclear MTs. A second system of MTs develops in the equatorial plane, initially consisting of randomly orientated microtubular elements. Later they tend to run in a predominantly radial direction although a common MT focal point or organizing center is not apparent. The two centriole complexes remain at the center of the equatorial plane until well into interphase, facing each other across the newly formed transverse septum. Centrioles are associated with root templates and connecting fibers. The present observations corroborate the view that C. geminella does not form a true filament in the ulotrichalean or chaetophoralean sense, but rather consists of a row of autospores. Its affinity with other “pseudo‐filamentous” green algae and the Chlorococcales is discussed. The interpretation of the cytokinetic MTs in C. geminella as a phycoplast appears to be problematic.