ISSN:
1432-0886
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract Individual living cells in metaphase were exposed to a steep temperature gradient by placing a microheater near one spindle pole. The cells were then fixed and the spindle was examined by electron microscopy. The structure of the warmer half-spindle differed from the cooler half-spindle in several ways. Kinetochore microtubules were nearly parallel in the warmer half-spindle but were divergent in the cooler. The total length of microtubules in the warmer half-spindle was 52 per cent greater and the number of kinetochore microtubules per kinetochore averaged 16 per cent higher than in the cooler half-spindle. The warmer half-spindle was longer than the cooler. These observations clearly demonstrate a locally enhanced assembly of microtubules in the warmer half-spindle. The electron microscope study makes still clearer the unusual character of chromosome movement in the differentially heated cells: the structure of the warmer half-spindle is hard to distinguish from that in normal cells, yet chromosome movement there is far slower than normal (Nicklas, 1979).
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00344481
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