(
2005-11-07)
Gupton, S. L.; Collings, D. A.; Allen, N. S.
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of plant cells undergoes a drastic reorganization
during cell division. In tobacco NT-1 cells that stably express a GFP construct targeted
to the ER, we have mapped the reorganization of ER that occurs during mitosis and
cytokinesis with confocal laser scanning microscopy. During division, the ER and
nuclear envelope do not vesiculate. Instead, tubules of ER accumulate around the
chromosomes after the nuclear envelope breaks down, with these tubules aligning parallel
to the microtubules of the mitotic spindle. In cytokinesis, the phragmoplast is
particularly rich in ER, and the transnuclear channels and invaginations present in many
interphase cells appear to develop from ER tubules trapped in the developing
phragmoplast. Drug studies, using oryzalin and latrunculin to disrupt the microtubules
and actin microfilaments respectively, demonstrate that during division, the arrangement
of ER is controlled by microtubules and not by actin, which is the reverse of the situation
in interphase cells.
