Confocal Microscopy of Microplasmodial Mitoses?

Physarum microplasmodia growing asynchronously in shake culture were fixed, permeabilized, and stained with either Nuclear Fast Red (to visualize nuclei) or by indirect immunofluorescence to show microtubules. By using confocal microscopy it was possible to show that all microplasmdia had numerous nuclei (left image - click for more information), but that very few microplasmodia displayed tubulin labelling. However, those that did show microtubules had numerous structures of very similar morphology suggestive of mitotic spindles (right image - click for more information). These preliminary data are interpreted to indicate that mitoses are synchronous within any one microplasmodium and that double-label studies using confocal microscopy can be expected to provide more information about such mitoses.


Complete Abstract

---

Back to PhysarumPlus HomePage

---

Last modified: Friday, November 29, 2002