An anti-mitotic compound, (+)-6-tuliposide A, isolated from the Canadian glacier lily, Erythronium grandiflorum.

The Canadian prairie ecosystem is subjected to abiotic and biotic conditions that induce plants to produce secondary metabolites that affect mammalian physiology. Extracts prepared from certain plant species native to Canadian prairie and montane cordillera ecosystems have previously been shown to have anti-mitotic activity on human cancer cell lines. In this study, we investigated the glacier lily, Erythronium grandiflorum (Liliaceae), in which the species was the most phylogenetically distant from Asteraceae and had anti-mitotic activity.

Pulchelloid A, a sesquiterpene lactone from the Canadian prairie plant Gaillardia aristata inhibits mitosis in human cells.

Background: The Canadian prairie ecosystem presents a rich source of natural products from plants that are subjected to herbivory by grazing mammals. This type of ecological competition may contribute to the production of natural products of interest in cell biology and medical research. We provide the first biological description of the sesquiterpene lactone, pulchelloid A, which we isolated from the prairie plant, Gaillardia aristata (Asteraceae) and report that it inhibits mitosis in human cells.

Isolation of a natural product with anti-mitotic activity from a toxic Canadian prairie plant.

We are investigating plants from the prairie ecological zone of Canada to identify natural products that inhibit mitosis in cancer cells. Investigation of plant parts from the Canadian plant species (Asteraceae) revealed that leaf extracts (PP-360A) had anti-mitotic activity on human cancer cell lines. Cells treated with leaf extracts acquired a rounded morphology, similar to that of cells in mitosis.

Extracts Prepared from a Canadian Toxic Plant Induce Light-Dependent Perinuclear Vacuoles in Human Cells.

We are investigating plant species from the Canadian prairie ecological zone by phenotypic cell assays to discover toxins of biological interest. We provide the first report of the effects of extracts prepared from the shrub in several human cell lines. (Caprifoliaceae) extracts are cytotoxic, and, strikingly, treated cells undergo light-dependent vacuolation near the nucleus.

Experimental Determination of Checkpoint Adaptation by Mitotic Shake-Off and Microscopy.

Cells that undergo checkpoint adaptation arrest at and then abrogate the G2/M cell cycle checkpoint to enter mitosis with damaged DNA. Cells surviving this process frequently contain micronuclei, which can lead to genomic change and chromothripsis. In this chapter we describe how to induce checkpoint adaptation and detect it by time-lapse video and immunofluorescence microscopy and how to isolate cells undergoing checkpoint adaptation from a total cell population.