Distribution of gamma-tubulin differs in primary and secondary oocytes of Ephestia kuehniella (Pyralidae, Lepidoptera)

In a previous study, barrel‐shaped spindles were found in metaphase I oocytes of Ephestia kuehniella (Pyralidae, Lepidoptera). Aster microtubules (MTs) were missing (Wolf, 1993: Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 24:200‐204). This points to an acentriolar organization of the spindle apparatus. The present study was aimed at the question of whether gamma‐tubulin, a newly detected member of the tubulin superfamily that has often been identified in microtubule‐organizing centers, plays a role in the nucleation of MTs in meiotic spindles of the moth. To this end, the distribution of gamma tubulin was examined in oocytes of E. kuehniella using an antibody against gamma‐tubulin in combination with indirect immunofluorescence. The antibody evenly decorated spindle MTs in metaphase I oocytes of the moth. Enhanced staining of the spindle poles was not detectable In subsequent stages of meiosis, gamma‐tubulin was gradually lost from spindle MTs and was then found at the surface of the so‐called elimination chromatin. Female meiosis in Lepidoptera is achiasmatic. The elimination chromatin, i.e., modified and persisting synaptonemal complexes, is believed to keep homologous chromosomes linked until the onset of anaphase I. In meiosis I of female Lepidoptera, the elimination chromatin persists at the spindle equa or between the segregating chromatin masses. It is plausible to assume that gamma‐tubulin is involved in spindle organization in the absence of canonical centrosomes. In MTs of metaphase II spindles of E. kuehniella, gamma‐tubulin was no longer detectable with our immunological approach. This points to a far‐reaching change in spindle organization during transition from meiosis I to meiosis II. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.