Cell cycles and endocycles in the model brown seaweed, Ectocarpus siliculosus.
The recent announcement of the first genome sequence of a brown macroalga, the filamentous Ectocarpus, has been accompanied by a number of companion papers in New Phytologist. In a paper which contributes to this special issue, we classified the core cell cycle components of Ectocarpus, comparing them to the previously studied cell cycle components of diatoms. We then carried out fluorescence microscopy experiments to show that the Ectocarpus cell cycle could be deregulated during early development to give endopolyploid adults. We discuss here how our findings complement recent studies on endopolyploidy in plant and algal systems.
Queen's University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences, Belfast, UK.
John H
JH
Bothwell
Dominique
D
Marie
Akira F
AF
Peters
J Mark
JM
Cock
Susana M
SM
Coelho
D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D000459:Phaeophyceae / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011123:Polyploidy