Molecular‐level pursuit of yeast mitosis by time‐ and space‐resolved Raman spectroscopy

The process of eukaryotic cell division has been studied at the molecular level by Raman spectroscopy. Time- and space-resolved Raman spectra of a living fission yeast cell were successfully recorded with a 100 s time resolution and a 250 nm spatial resolution by using a confocal multi-channel Raman microspectrometer. Raman spectra characteristic of the nucleus, mitochondrion and septum were identified and time-dependent changes of major molecular components during the cell cycle were elucidated. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.