Cell cycle arrest in antheridial extract-treated root meristems of Allium cepa and Melandrium noctiflorum.

Previous results have demonstrated that extracts derived from maturing male sex organs of Chara tomentosa are capable of inducing profound structural and functional effects upon M-phase cells in the primary root meristems of Melandrium noctiflorum and Allium cepa. Evident changes produced by a putative factor engaged in morphogenesis of antheridial filaments are manifested by: (1) significant shortening of chromosomes, (2) decreased mitotic indices, and (3) altered proportions estimated for the prophase and telophase transit times. The present image analysis of late G2 phase nuclei in antheridial filaments of C. tomentosa supports the concepts that progressive changes of their functional activities correspond closely to the increasing proportion of condensed chromatin. Cytophotometric measurements of Feulgen-stained cell nuclei in root meristems after a prolonged incubation in antheridial extracts revealed that cells which previously divided asynchronously became preferentially arrested in G1 (M. noctiflorum) and G2 (A. cepa). The stages at which the cells arrest are supposed to counterpart restriction checkpoints that prevent the initiation of DNA synthesis and mitosis. This assumption has been confirmed by autoradiographic studies using 3H-thymidine. In terms of the "Principal Control Points" (PCP) hypothesis, the obtained results suggest that two PCPs regulate G1-->S and G2-->M transition in a nuclear structure-dependent and a species-specific manner. Although in antheridial extract-treated roots of both M. noctiflorum and A. cepa there are only slight changes in the levels of chromatin condensation, the relative proportions of G1- and G2-arrested cells and their nuclear density profiles differ, as compared with the control and carbohydrate-starved plants.