Objective Measurement of Spindle Orientation in Early Caenorhabditis elegans Embryo

Shugo Hamahashi[1],[2] (shugo@so.bio.keio.ac.jp)
Shuichi Onami[1],[2] (sonami@bio.keio.ac.jp)

[1]Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan
[2]Institute for Bioinformatics Research and Development (BIRD), Japan Science and Technology Agency, 5-3 Yonbancho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 102-0081, Japan

Abstract

The spindle orientation is a crucial piece of information to understand the development of embryo. The spindle forms during cell division and the cell divides along the spindle axis. Spindle orientation was measured in many different mutant embryos of Caenrohabditis elegans. However, the objectivity and the productivity of these measurements were low because these measurements were made manually. Here we present a system that automates the measurement of the spindle orientation in C. elegans embryo. Automation increases the objectivity and productivity of the measurement. We confirmed the applicability of the system by applying it to spindles during the second divisions in wild-type and mutant C. elegans embryos.

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