Analyzing the spatial positioning of nuclei in polynuclear giant cells
- How cells establish and maintain a well-defined size is a fundamental question of cell biology. Here we investigated to what extent the microtubule cytoskeleton can set a predefined cell size, independent of an enclosing cell membrane. We used electropulse-induced cell fusion to form giant multinuclear cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Based on dual-color confocal imaging of cells that expressed fluorescent markers for the cell nucleus and the microtubules, we determined the subcellular distributions of nuclei and centrosomes in the giant cells. Our two- and three-dimensional imaging results showed that the positions of nuclei in giant cells do not fall onto a regular lattice. However, a comparison with model predictions for random positioning showed that the subcellular arrangement of nuclei maintains a low but still detectable degree of ordering. This can be explained by the steric requirements of the microtubule cytoskeleton, as confirmed by the effect of a microtubule degrading drug.
Verfasserangaben: | Maike StangeORCiD, Marius HintscheORCiDGND, Kirsten Sachse, Matthias Gerhardt, Angelo VallerianiORCiDGND, Carsten BetaORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aa8da0 |
ISSN: | 0022-3727 |
ISSN: | 1361-6463 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics |
Verlag: | IOP Publ. Ltd. |
Verlagsort: | Bristol |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Datum der Erstveröffentlichung: | 24.10.2017 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2017 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 08.02.2021 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Dictyostelium; cell nucleus; imaging; positioning; spatial poisson distribution |
Band: | 50 |
Ausgabe: | 46 |
Seitenanzahl: | 8 |
Fördernde Institution: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [GRK 1558, SFB 937] |
Organisationseinheiten: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Physik und Astronomie |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik |
Peer Review: | Referiert |