Reorganization of microtubules during mitosis in Dictyostelium: Dissociation from MTOC and selective assembly/disassembly in situ

Abstract

AbstractWe applied the “agar‐overaly” immunofluorescence techinque (Yumura, S., H. Mori, and Y. Fukui, J. Cell Biol. 99:894–899, 1984) to a semisynchronous culture of Dictyostelium discoideum for studying the organization changes in the microtubule system during mitosis. Using a flurescent DNA dye DAPI (4′,6′ ‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole), chromatin fibers and individual chromosomes were visible in cells prepared by this method, whereby the mitotic phase could be critically evaluated.We found that a rapid shortening of the cytoplasmic microtubules was preceded by a structural dislocation from their organizing centers (MTOCs) in the midprophase, resulting in the transient occurrence of free microtubules in the cytoplasm. Statistic analyses showed that microtubule disassembly in prophase was diphasic. Initially long, wavy microtubules shortened from their distal ends. Following dissociation of their proximal ends from the MTOC, all microtubules initiated rapid disassembly, probably from both ends. During this process, microtubule assembly from the now duplicated spindle pole body (SPB) resumed.This study also revealed novel information on the dynamics of the Dictyostelium mitotic spindle: 1) Half spindles interdigitate in the spindle center, and the extent of interdigition increases coincidentally with the spindle elongation, and 2) during the anaphase to telophase, a subpopulation of spindle microtubules elongates while the rest of the microtubules disasemble very rapidly.Overall this study indicates the presence of elaborate mechanisms responsible for the selective assembly/disassembly of particular microtubule subpopulations in situ.