Packing Up DNA
This looks like it might be a slow-motion image of a firecracker going off, but it’s actually a single cell captured during the prometaphase stage of cell division. During prometaphase, the cell’s DNA is compacted into chromosomes, which are attached to microtubules so the DNA can be pulled into each daughter cell later in the process.
Media For Educational Use Only
DownloadPacking Up DNA
This looks like it might be a slow-motion image of a firecracker going off, but it’s actually a single cell captured during the prometaphase stage of cell division. During prometaphase, the cell’s DNA is compacted into chromosomes, which are attached to microtubules so the DNA can be pulled into each daughter cell later in the process.
What am I looking at?
These are images of a cell during cell division. The orange/yellow coloring around the exterior is the DNA being packed into chromosomes (1). The white lines forming a sphere in the center are microtubules (2).
Click on the right arrow to see some additional images of this stage of cell division.
Biology in the background
Cell division is the process of a single cell turning into two identical copies of itself. To do this, the original cell needs to make copies of all its cellular components, including its DNA. To transfer DNA efficiently, it’s packed into chromosomes. The chromosomes are then attached to microtubules, which will eventually pull the DNA into each daughter cell.
A microtubule is about 25 nanometers in diameter, or roughly 4,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, and a chromosome is between 1 and 2 micrometers long, or roughly 50 to 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
Technique
These images were created using fluorescence microscopy.
Andy Moore , HHMI's Janelia Research Campus