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Multicellularity had independently evolved in several groups of eukaryotes, and cytokinesis has a crucial role for maintaining the cell adhesion and cell-cell communication in these organisms. Brown algae including ‘Konbu (Saccharina)’ and ‘Wakame (Undaria)’ are multicellular organisms and possess plasmodemata, which are intercellular channels across the cross wall. In 2010, whole genome sequences of Ectocarpus siliculosuswere reported. The result shows a possibility that brown algae have complicated signal transductions and systems for cell-cell communication. We are examining how the cross wall is built in the mid space between daughter nuclei and how the multicellularity is maintained by molecular and cellular levels.

References

• Nagasato, C. et al. (2010) Membrane fusion process and assembly of cell wall during cytokinesis in the brown alga, Silvetia babingtonii(Fucales, Phaeophyceae). Planta 232: 287-298.
• Cock, J. M. et al. (2010) The Ectocarpus genome and the independent evolution of multicellularity in the brown algae. Nature, 465:617-621.
• Nagasato, C. and Motomura, T. (2009) Effect of latrunculin B and brefeldin A on cytokinesis in the brown alga, Scytosiphon lomentaria(Scytosiphonales, Phaeophyceae). Journal of Phycology 45:404-412.
• Nagasato C. and Motomura T. (2002) New pyrenoid formation in the brown alga, Scytosiphon lomentaria (Scytosiphonales, Phaeophyceae). Journal of Phycolgy 38:800-806
• Nagasato C. and Motomura T. (2002) Influence of the centrosome in cytokinesis of brown algae: polyspermic zygotes of Scytosiphon lomentaria (Scytosiphonales, Phaeophyceae). Journal of Cell Science115:2541-2548