Characteristics of mitosis in the gametophyte cells of the marine green alga Monostroma angicava

BACKGROUND: Some marine algae exhibit several characteristics of mitosis (e.g., the timing of mitosis such as diurnal periodicity) that are unique from those of land plants. Not only the timing but also other characteristics of mitosis, including the process itself and the number of chromosomes involved, are largely unknown in ulvophycean marine green algae. Effective mitotic inhibitors are useful for observing mitosis and identifying the number of chromosomes. However, few such inhibitors are available for ulvophycean algae. Here, we examined the timing and process of mitosis and the number of chromosomes with several mitotic inhibitors in the haploid gametophyte cells of the Ulvophyceae alga Monostroma angicava. RESULTS: Mitosis did not occur during the light period but began immediately after the onset of the dark period. The typical process of mitosis was observed. The mitotic inhibitors colchicine and 8-hydroxyquinoline, which generally arrest mitosis in land plants, were ineffective in M. angicava. We found that three other mitotic inhibitors, amiprophos methyl, griseofulvin and oryzalin, are effective to arrest mitosis. With three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy, we demonstrated that there were nine chromosomes in each cell. CONCLUSIONS: In the gametophyte cells of M. angicava, mitosis occurs diurnally. It is triggered by the onset of the dark period. We identified the number of chromosomes as N = 9. Our study shows effective inhibitors to observe mitosis in ulvophycean algae. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40529-019-0256-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.