Talk:Centrosome/Archive 1

Archive 1

plants and centrosomes

"Typical plant cells do not have centrosomes or anything analogous to them in size, function or organization, but have a number of noncentrosomal MTOCs that lack centrioles."

I was always taught that plants had centrosomes but no centrioles. Do they really lack centrosomes as well?--Thezookeeper 03:50, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Thezookeeper - inhwanie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.248.92.174 (talk) 03:53, 7 December 2005

add centrosome cycle to searching possibilities --193.225.127.130 13:09, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Since by definition the centrosome is made of centrioles surrounded by pericentriolar material (PCM) plants, who lack centrioles,do not have centrosomes. The centrosome is often refered to as an microtubule organising centre (MTOC). The label MTOC, however, is not restricted to describing the centrosome, but also includes the yeast spindle pole body (SPB) and any other structure which plays a role in microtubule organisation, including the MTOCs of plant cells. Therefore most plant cells DO NOT have centrosomes, but DO have MTOCs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ninawow (talk • contribs) 15:18, 1 September 2006

yeast is not a plant —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.31.72.52 (talk) 09:17, 14 November 2006

i dont think she was saying it is —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.183.67 (talk) 18:19, 14 February 2007

recent research

the last section highlights the research by alliegro et al. on centrosome-associated rna in clam oocytes. to my knowledge, this has not been confirmed and also has been put into doubt in the paper itself. the reason of the rna appearing could be a parasite/viral infection. i think that there are many more interesting developments regarding e.g. centrosome duplication, breast cancer susceptibility and centrosome dysfunction, centrosomal clustering etc. that are worth mentioning.--Raineruu 13:53, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Plant cells do have centrosomes?

They have centrosomes, but not centrioles, and I'm certain of this. "Since by definition the centrosome is made of centrioles surrounded by pericentriolar material" is a wrong definition which you are afraid to site its source. Sentriclecub (talk) 01:20, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

No, higher plants do not have centrosomes. See any modern botany textbook on this. It is one of the often-cited differences between plant and animal cells. Flagellated green algae and some lower plants that make flagellated sperm cells still have centrioles though and some green algae use centrosomes/basal bodies during mitosis to organize the spindle. - tameeria (talk) 13:38, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I believe you fully. I was frustrated that someone used a circular logic and used the wikipedia article itself to assert that plants don't fit the criteria for having centrosomes. My source was my 2003 bio textbook and MCAT prep-materials. Makes you wonder about this subset of scientists. The biology articles on WP aren't as accurate as physics and chemistry, I've noticed. That's just my opinion though. Sentriclecub (talk) 11:54, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

There seems to be some confusion about this and plenty of websites stating that plants have centrosomes. I'm not sure where this misinformation is coming from, but my textbooks (college level) all disagree and if I do a search for plant + centrosome on PubMed recent research and review papers regarding plants state things like: "In acentriolar higher plant cells, the surface of the nucleus acts as a microtubule-organizing center, substituting for the centrosome."[1] - "Flowering plants, lacking centrosomes as well as dynein, assemble their mitotic spindle via a pathway that is distinct visually and molecularly from that of animals and yeast."[2] - "Plant cell cortical microtubule arrays attain a high degree of order without the benefit of an organizing center such as a centrosome."[3] I suspect the idea that plant cells must have centrosomes stems from an outdated animal-centric view and trying to apply what is found in animal cells to plant cells by analogy, which in this case is not correct. - tameeria (talk) 14:29, 3 February 2008 (UTC)