TWO TYPES OF CYTOPLASMIC CLEAVAGE IN THE COENOCYTIC SOIL ALGA PROTOSIPHON BOTRYOIDES (CHLOROPHYCEAE)1

Abstract

ABSTRACTCytokinesis in the coenocytic green alga Protosiphon botryoides (Kütz.) Klebs was studied with transmission electron microscopy. In vegetative cells, nuclei with associated basal bodies and dictyosomes are scattered throughout the cytoplasm. Mature cells may develop either multinucleate resting spores (coenocysts) or uninucleate zoospores. Cytokinesis may be preceded by contraction of the protoplast due to the disintegration of vacuoles that are present in larger, siphonous cells.The formation of coenocysts in ageing, siphonous cells, is signalled by cleavage of the chloroplast and the development of arrays of phycoplast microtubules in one or more transversely oriented planes through the cell. Nuclei with associated basal apparatuses stay dispersed throughout the cytoplasm; the basal bodies apparently are not involved in organization of the phycoplast. The plasma membrane invaginates, resulting in a centripetal cleavage of the protoplast into two or more multinucleate daughter protoplasts. Simultaneously, wall material is deposited along the outside of the daughter protoplasts by dictyosome‐derived vesicles, and finally two or more thick‐walled coenocysts are formed.The formation of zoospores, on the other hand, is signalled by clustering of the nuclei in one or more groups depending on the shape of the mother cell. The nuclei become arranged with the associated basal apparatuses facing toward the center of the cluster. Bundles of phycoplast microtubules develop between the nuclei, radiating from the center of a cluster toward the plasma membrane; basal apparatuses or associated structures apparently are involved in organization of the phycoplast. Cleavage furrows grow out centrifugally along these bundles of micro‐tubules, fed by dictyosome‐derived vesicles. No wall material is deposited. An additional mitotic division occurs during cleavage, and finally numerous uninucleate, wall‐less, biflagellate zoospores are formed. The ultrastructural features of the two different types of cytoplasmic cleavage associated with two different types of daughter cells have not previously been reported for chlorophycean algae.