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First published online 30 August 2006
doi: 10.1242/dev.02578

Development 133, 3883-3893 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
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A default mechanism of spindle orientation based on cell shape is sufficient to generate cell fate diversity in polarised Xenopus blastomeres

Bernhard Strauss1,2, Richard J. Adams2 and Nancy Papalopulu1,2,*,{dagger}

1 The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
2 Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: nancy.papalopulu{at}manchester.ac.uk)

Accepted 9 August 2006

The process of oriented divisions of polarised cells is a recurrent mechanism of cell fate diversification in development. It is commonly assumed that a specialised mechanism of spindle alignment into the axis of polarity is a prerequisite for such systems to generate cell fate diversity. Oriented divisions also take place in the frog blastula, where orientation of the spindle into the apicobasal axis of polarised blastomeres generates inner and outer cells with different fates. Here, we show that, in this system, the spindle orients according to the shape of the cells, a mechanism often thought to be a default. We show that in the embryo, fatedifferentiative, perpendicular divisions correlate with a perpendicular long axis and a small apical surface, but the long axis rather then the size of the apical domain defines the division orientation. Mitotic spindles in rounded, yet polarised, isolated Xenopus blastula cells orient randomly, but align into an experimentally introduced long axis when cells are deformed early in the cell cycle. Unlike other systems of oriented divisions, the spindle aligns at prophase, rotation behaviour is rare and restricted to small angle adjustments. Disruption of astral microtubules leads to misalignment of the spindle. These results show that a mechanism of spindle orientation that depends on cell shape rather than cortical polarity can nevertheless generate cell fate diversity from a population of polarised cells.

Key words: Spindle, Cell shape, Xenopus, Blastula, Asymmetric division, Microtubules




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