The role of cortical pattern in timing of cell division and morphogenesis in Stentor

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Abstract
This paper describes experiments involving reciprocal exchange of the oral apparatus between a large (L) and a small (S) strain of Stentor coeruleus. Mature L‐strain stentors given an S‐strain oral apparatus formed an oral primordium in response to the presence of abnormally small oral structures and mostly divided although a few reorganized instead. Conversely, when S‐strain stentors in early division were given a large L‐strain oral apparatus, they resorbed the developing primordium and returned to interphase. When combined with previous results, these findings provide evidence for the hypothesis that the time of cell division in Stentor is determined by a “critical” ratio between the size of the oral apparatus and the size of the cell body (somatic) cortex. This ratio develops because the somatic cortex grows during interphase and the oral apparatus does not. Cell division in Stentor therefore appears to be initiated by a cortical pattern change resulting from cell surface growth during interphase.

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