Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center Masaki Osawa
This movie shows more detailed dynamics of the Z ring in cell #1 in the movie “Z ring formation and constriction 1”. At the final stage of Z ring constriction, the amount of FtsZ increases in the cytoplasm of the daughter cells (decreases in the Z ring) and FtsZ begins to form new Z rings in the daughter cells. Interestingly, filamentous spiral structures of FtsZ are observed during 570 - 710 sec where the speed of the movie slows down. This suggests that FtsZ is able to assemble into a large spiral like structure at least in some cases. On the other hand, Z rings do not always seem to be a complete circular structure as shown during 1130 - 1170 sec with the * mark. This indicates that this Z ring has a large gap in its ring structure, in which case the Z ring should be an “arc” shape.
(2014.12.12)