Migration and division of cleavage nuclei in the gall midge,Wachtliella persicariae

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Abstract
In the eggs ofWachtliella persicariae the cleavage nuclei move relative to the surrounding ooplasm. This ‘active’ migration is caused by an organelle whose ultrastructure was studied throughout the mitotic cycle. It consists of a greatly enlarged polar cytaster derived from the mitotic apparatus, linked to the nucleus by 100 Å filaments. The microtubules of the cytaster were found only during periods of active nuclear migration, i.e., from the onset of anaphase to the early prophase of the next mitotic cycle. They are always solitary and follow the course of the astral rays, which are known to temporarily adhere to peripheral structures of the egg cell and to exert tractive forces. In contrast to the cytaster microtubules, the microtubules in the spindle are bundled and persist from early metaphase through late telophase. During ontogenesis the first migration cytaster is built up between 3 and 12 min after oviposition near the anterior egg pole, in the vicinity of the sperm nucleus. In non-inseminated eggs time lapse films show a migration cytaster to develop autonomously in a region free from nuclei, but it does not follow the normal path of the male pronucleus. In several cases the female pronucleus, which remains without a cytaster of its own, was observed to move to the cytaster generated in the absence of the male pronucleus. Whether or not it is adhering to a nucleus, the cytaster divides into two at the correct time, i.e, corresponding to the first cleavage division in fertilized eggs. In some non-inseminated eggs this type of ‘pseudocleavage’ has been observed to occur repeatedly, giving rise to an increasing number of anucleate cytasters.