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doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.00152

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Development 129, 5567-5576 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Cellularisation in the endosperm of Arabidopsis thaliana is coupled to mitosis and shares multiple components with cytokinesis

Mikael Blom Sørensen1,2, Ulrike Mayer3, Wolfgang Lukowitz4, Hélène Robert1, Pierre Chambrier1, Gerd Jürgens3, Chris Somerville4, Loic Lepiniec5 and Frédéric Berger1,*

1 Laboratoire de Reproduction et Développement des Plantes, UMR 5667, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d'Italie, F-69364 Lyon, Cedex 07, France
2 Plant Research Department, PRD-301, Risø National Laboratory, PO Box 49, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
3 ZMBP — Center of Plant Molecular Biology, Developmental Genetics, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 3, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
4 Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Plant Biology, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, California 94305, USA
5 Laboratoire de Biologie des Semences, UMR INRA/INA-PG, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026 Versailles Cedex, France

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: frederic.berger{at}ens-lyon.fr)

Accepted 6 September 2002

Distinct forms of cytokinesis characterise specific phases of development in plants. In Arabidopsis, as in many other species, the endosperm that nurtures the embryo in the seed initially develops as a syncytium. This syncytial phase ends with simultaneous partitioning of the multinucleate cytoplasm into individual cells, a process referred to as cellularisation. Our in vivo observations show that, as in cytokinesis, cellularisation of the Arabidopsis endosperm is coupled to nuclear division. A genetic analysis reveals that most Arabidopsis mutations affecting cytokinesis in the embryo also impair endosperm cellularisation. These results imply that cellularisation and cytokinesis share multiple components of the same basic machinery. We further report the identification of mutations in a novel gene, SPÄTZLE, that specifically interfere with cellularisation of the endosperm, but not with cytokinesis in the embryo. The analysis of this mutant might identify a specific checkpoint for the onset of cellularisation.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, Endosperm, Seed, Cytokinesis, SPÄTZLE






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2002