Regulation of the plane of cell division in vacuolated cells

Summary

In small leaf explants fromNautilocalyx lynchii (Hook. f.) Sprague (Gesneriaceae) the vacuolated epidermal cells divide after 3–4 days. Most cells divide periclinally, but longitudinal and transverse divisions are also found. Before mitosis the cells form a phragmosome (PS), a cytoplasmic structure which contacts the cell cortex at the future division site. An experimental approach was used to find out at which time the plane of cell division becomes fixed: prior to or during the formation of a PS.

When 3 day-old explants were divided into two parts by a longitudinal cut, a high percentage of the cells near the wound divided longitudinally. Cells which already had a PS at the time of wounding most often divided in the plane of the PS. Some of the cells with a non-longitudinal PS, however, formed a longitudinal cell wall after the replacement of the original PS by a longitudinal PS.

The observations show that most cells which had not yet formed a PS could be induced to form a cell wall in a new direction. As soon as the formation of the PS had started, however, it became more difficult to induce a change in the plane of cell division. These results suggest that the division site is chosen during the formation of the PS.