NDP reductase activity can be inhibited either by treatment with hydroxyurea or by incubation of an nrdA ts mutant strain at the non-permissive temperature. Both methods inhibit replication, but experiments on these two types of inhibition yielded very different results. The chemical treatment immediately inhibited DNA synthesis but did not affect the cell and nucleoid appearance, while the incubation of an nrdA101 mutant strain at the non-permissive temperature inhibited DNA synthesis after more than 50 min, and resulted in aberrant chromosome segregation, long filaments, and a high frequency of anucleate cells. These phenotypes are not induced by SOS. In view of these results, we suggest there is an indirect relationship between NDP reductase and the chromosome segregation machinery through the maintenance of the proposed replication hyperstructure.
A high level of cell cycle synchronization in Allium cepa was achieved using a 24 h hydroxyurea block (1.25 mM) followed by 20 h of recovery (without hydroxyurea) and a subsequent 4 h treatment with saturated α-bromonaphthalene solution. This procedure was very effective in producing a synchronously dividing cell population with a 76% mean mitotic index and a 30% frequency of metaphase stages. After release from hydroxyurea arrest, large fractions of cells synchronously entered successive phases: G1, S, and G2. The calculated duration of the cell cycle, 13 h, is in general accordance with previous reports. A detailed protocol for obtaining a high mitotic index and a large portion of cells in a particular cycle phase (G1, S, G2) was prepared.