Fig. 6. Orientation of division correlates with cell shape. (A) Percentage of each type of oriented division that the daughters of an oblique division, one with a large (`oblique big') and one with a small (`oblique small') external surface, will undergo in the next division is shown. A high percentage (88%) of oblique small cells divided perpendicularly in the next division. The percentages are based on n=184 `oblique big' cells and n=180 `oblique small' cells from five embryos (eight-cell to 1024-cell stage). (B) Wholemount and sections from the same embryo showing that cells with a small external surface (labelled 1 and 2) have a long internal axis. (C) Unstained section showing that cells with small external surface (arrow) have an elongated apicobasal axis. (D,E) Antibody staining of spindles (red) and DNA (yellow/green) showing that elongated cells with small external surface (arrows) divide in a perpendicular orientation.

Return to article