2005 Volume 70 Issue 3 Pages 351-354
Cyanidioschyzon merolae is considered to be a suitable model system for cytologial studies of organelle proliferation and partitioning because these unicellular cells contain each organelle singly. However, lysosomes of C. merolae have yet to be identified. Polyphosphate have been known to be accumulated in the vacuoles of many microorganisms including alga. The cells stained with Neisser staining method, which visualizes polyphosphate bodies, showed the lysosome-like structures. They were about 500 nm in diameter and usually found as four copies in a single cell. The structures changed their localization dynamically during the cell cycle. During interphase, they were observed in the cytosol. At the beginning of mitosis, they moved over the mitochondria. During cytokinesis, they were inherited to the daughter cells almost evenly, suggesting the existence of mechanisms for the ordered partitioning.
