Aphidicolin uncouples the chloroplast division cycle from the mitotic cycle in the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae.

The unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae possesses one chloroplast, one mitochondrion, and one cell nucleus. Since the division of these organelles and cytokinesis occur in a coordinated manner, mitosis and the organelle division cycles must be tightly coupled. We report here that aphidicolin, a specific inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha, uncouples the chloroplast division cycle from the mitotic cycle. The effects of aphidicolin on C. merolae cells were examined by both epifluorescence and electron microscopy. When cells at the S phase in synchronous culture were treated with aphidicolin, mitosis and cytokinesis did not occur, while chloroplast division did. Moreover, both of the chloroplasts in these cells continued to divide and then generated four or more chloroplasts per cell. The inhibition of cell-nuclear DNA synthesis by aphidicolin was confirmed using microfluorometry. In addition, microfluorometry revealed that the total size and the amount of DNA in chloroplasts in aphidicolin-treated cells remained constant during uncoupled chloroplast division. As a result, the size and amount of DNA per chloroplast decreased stepwise during chloroplast division. Electron microscopic examination of aphidicolin-treated cells showed that the second division of chloroplasts uses a chloroplast-dividing ring similar to that in cells undergoing normal chloroplast division. These results suggest that chloroplast division by the dividing ring is free from a checkpoint control that inhibits the progression of mitosis and cytokinesis in the absence of the completion of cell-nuclear DNA synthesis, and also that chloroplasts lack a checkpoint control mechanism that inhibits its division without growth or DNA synthesis of itself.