Fig. 5

Visualization and quantification of mitochondrial distribution in control and C3 transferase-treated HeLa cells. a Spinning disk confocal images of HeLa cells treated with C3 transferase to inhibit RhoA activity and stained with MitoTracker Deep Red FM to visualize mitochondria (magenta). A single central z-slice and an overlay of the central slice with the corresponding DIC image are shown for five representative stages of division from metaphase to late-cytokinesis. Blue arrowheads indicate mitochondria mislocalized at the cell poles in C3-treated cells. Bar, 10 μm. b Quantification of mitochondrial fluorescence intensity from cell pole to cell equator in control (9 cells, N = 36) versus C3-treated (17 cells, N = 68) cells from metaphase to late cytokinesis. The normalized distance from cell pole to equator is displayed on the x-axis and the average fluorescence intensity normalized against the mean is displayed on the y-axis. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM and lines fitted by non-linear regression. The difference in mitochondrial distribution was statistically significant in C3-treated cells relative to control cells from early cytokinesis onwards (F-Test, p < 0.05)