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AN INTERPRETATION OF TRANSPORT PHENOMENA AT MITOSIS *
Author(s) -
Östergren G.,
MolèBajer J.,
Bajer A.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1960.tb23258.x
Subject(s) - library science , computer science
During the course of mitosis there are found a number of different movement phenomena and, although the anaphase movements of the chromosomes may appear as the most striking and spectacular event of mitosis, it must be borne in mind that anaphase is a continuation of the previous mitotic stages and that these previous stages also imply important phenomena of chromosomal movements and equilibria, which to a large extent might be due to the same or related mechanisms as also work during anaphase. For this reason, it is always necessary to consider the different mitotic stages together and to pay attention to the possibility that different movements might largely be due to a continued action of the same or related mechanisms. I t should also be noted that, besides the centromere movements that are the most important factor in securing the purposeful completion of mitosis, there also exist other characteristic movements, such as those of pieces of nucleoli and of chromosome arms. Although some of these movements may have no special function to fulfill in the cell, their study might still be of importance for an understanding of the mechanisms working in the spindle, the same mechanisms that may also in one way or another be involved in the centromere movements. I t is with this idea in mind that this paper is devoted not merely to the chromosome movements but also to a number of these other movement phenomena and, for this reason, we are speaking of “transport phenomena a t mitosis” in our title instead of merely of the “chromosome movements.” However, this paper is not concerned with all the factors that cause movements of chromosomes and other bodies in the cell during mitosis, but is restricted to consider only the mechanisms that cause movements of bodies relative to the spindle. An idea of the different kinds of movement factors whose influence can be traced during mitosis may be obtained from the following summary of the four different factors that produce the separation of daughter chromosomes during anaphase and telophase. Institiite of Genetics, University of Lund, Lzmd, Pweden