Table II. Quantification of the mitotic figures after Aurora A RNAi experiments in S2 cells.
| Prophase % |
Metaphase % |
Anaphase % |
Cytokinesis % |
Abnormal metaphase % |
Abnormal anaphase % |
Mitotic index % | DNA fragmentation % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | 9 ± 0.5 | 40.5 ± 4.5 | 2.7 ± 1.0 | 19.3 ± 3.4 | 2.65 ± 2.4 | 1.6 ± 1.4 | 7.8 ± 0.9 | 6.9 ± 0.4 |
| RNAi | 5.7 ± 0.7 | 13.6 ± 2.6 | 4.1 ± 1.0 | 26.5 ± 1.0 | 32.5 ± 5.0 | 6.1 ± 1.4 | 7.2 ± 1 | 13.8 ± 0.5 |
The abnormal metaphases correspond to cells with unaligned chromosomes and/or punctuate gamma-tubulin staining at the poles. The abnormal anaphases represent cells with chromosome separation defects and/or punctuate gamma-tubulin staining at the poles (Fig. 6). Note that the proportion of abnormal mitoses in control S2 cells can be ∼10%. The proportions of each mitotic stage are expressed as a percentage of the total number of mitotic cells, with the exception of the DNA fragmented cells, that is expressed as a percentage of the total number of cells.