Dr E. Buxbaum
EB15 at le.ac.uk
Mon Mar 10 06:18:14 EST 1997
Tomasz Pado <tomaszp at slip.net> wrote:
What amount of
>time (approx.) does a cell spend in each of the phases. I realize the
>time will be different for different cells, but I only need an
>approximation of plant cell cycle.
You can answer that question yourself for the cell line you are working with. Grow them on
slides to mid log phase, fix them in Carnoy's solution and stain with any of the common
nuclear stains. Then have a look at them. Count the cells in different phases of the cell
cycle. The relative number of cells in each phase of the cycle is (in non-synchronized cells,
of course) proportional to the relative amount of time the cells spend in this phase. In other
words, if, say, 20% of your cells are in metaphase, then metaphase takes 20% of the cell cycle.
Knowing the total time of the cell cycle (from the growth curve) you can then proceed to
calculate the absolute time a cell spends in the various parts of the cycle.
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