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First published online 6 February 2003
doi: 10.1242/jcs.00296

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Microtubule distribution during meiosis I in flea-beetle [Alagoasa (Oedionychus)] spermatocytes: evidence for direct connections between unpaired sex chromosomes

¹ Biology Department, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
² Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: aforer{at}yorku.ca)

Accepted 28 November 2002

The meiosis-I spindle in flea-beetle spermatocytes is unusual in that the autosomes and univalent sex chromosomes are separated by a mitochondrial sheath and move polewards at different times. To help understand the basis for this interesting chromosome behaviour, and to gather more detailed information about it, we studied microtubule distributions throughout meiosis I using immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy, and took careful measurements of pole and kinetochore positions at all stages of division. Our results show that, by late prophase, there is a spindle-shaped cytoplasmic array of microtubules in the central part of the cell, with the nucleus at the periphery. Following nuclear envelope breakdown, both autosomes and sex chromosomes become associated with cytoplasmic microtubules, although only the autosomes move centrally to the `cytoplasmic spindle'. The two unpaired sex chromosomes remain at the cell periphery and appear to be connected to each other by a microtubule bundle extending between their kinetochores. These bundles often persist into anaphase. Analysis of measurements taken from fixed/stained cells supports previous observations that sex chromosomes move part way to the pole in early prometaphase and then stop. The measurements also suggest that during autosomal anaphase, spindle elongation precedes autosome movement to the poles and polewards movement of sex chromosomes is limited or absent when autosomes are moving polewards.

Key words: Microtubules, Meiosis, Chromosome orientation, Acetylated tubulin

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