Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 34: Posters - Physics of Physarum polycephalum and Other Slime Molds (Focus Session)
BP 34.1: Poster
Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 14:00–16:00, P2-OG1
Analyzing the spatial positioning of nuclei in multinuclear giant cells — •Maike Stange1, Marius Hintsche1, Kirsten Sachse1, Matthias Gerhardt1, Angelo Valleriani2, and Carsten Beta1 — 1University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany
The spatial arrangement of organelles and other subcellular components plays a critical role for many functions of life at the cellular level. For example, during cell division, a proper distribution of cellular material onto the daughter cells is vital for their survival. Here, we study the spatial distribution of nuclei in artificial giant cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. We performed dual-color confocal imaging of cells that express fluorescence-labeled proteins for the nucleus and the microtubules. Based on this data, we determined the subcellular positions of nuclei, centrosomes, and their associated microtubules. A comparison with model predictions for random positioning in a confined domain suggests that nuclei in the giant cells are indeed randomly distributed, despite the putative steric interactions of neighboring microtubule cytoskeletons. Three-dimensional image reconstructions support our findings.