Asymmetric cell division in fucoid algae: a role for cortical adhesions in alignment of the mitotic apparatus.

The first cell division in zygotes of the fucoid brown alga Pelvetia compressa is asymmetric and we are interested in the mechanism controlling the alignment of this division. Since the division plane bisects the mitotic apparatus, we investigated the timing and mechanism of spindle alignments. Centrosomes, which give rise to spindle poles, aligned with the growth axis in two phases--a premetaphase rotation of the nucleus and centrosomes followed by a postmetaphase alignment that coincided with the separation of the mitotic spindle poles during anaphase and telophase. The roles of the cytoskeleton and cell cortex in the two phases of alignment were analyzed by treatment with pharmacological agents. Treatments that disrupted cytoskeleton or perturbed cortical adhesions inhibited pre-metaphase alignment and we propose that this rotational alignment is effected by microtubules anchored at cortical adhesion sites. Postmetaphase alignment was not affected by any of the treatments tested, and may be dependent on asymmetric cell morphology.