scholarly journals Characterization and dynamics of cytoplasmic F-actin in higher plant endosperm cells during interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis.

1987 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 2157-2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
A C Schmit ◽  
A M Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Fluorescent Labeling ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Cortical Actin ◽  
Higher Plant ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Rhodamine Phalloidin ◽  
Cytoplasmic Actin ◽  
Cytoskeletal Network ◽  
Cross Links

We have identified an F-actin cytoskeletal network that remains throughout interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis of higher plant endosperm cells. Fluorescent labeling was obtained using actin monoclonal antibodies and/or rhodamine-phalloidin. Video-enhanced microscopy and ultrastructural observations of immunogold-labeled preparations illustrated microfilament-microtubule co-distribution and interactions. Actin was also identified in cell crude extract with Western blotting. During interphase, microfilament and microtubule arrays formed two distinct networks that intermingled. At the onset of mitosis, when microtubules rearranged into the mitotic spindle, microfilaments were redistributed to the cell cortex, while few microfilaments remained in the spindle. During mitosis, the cortical actin network remained as an elastic cage around the mitotic apparatus and was stretched parallel to the spindle axis during poleward movement of chromosomes. This suggested the presence of dynamic cross-links that rearrange when they are submitted to slow and regular mitotic forces. At the poles, the regular network is maintained. After midanaphase, new, short microfilaments invaded the equator when interzonal vesicles were transported along the phragmoplast microtubules. Colchicine did not affect actin distribution, and cytochalasin B or D did not inhibit chromosome transport. Our data on endosperm cells suggested that plant cytoplasmic actin has an important role in the cell cortex integrity and in the structural dynamics of the poorly understood cytoplasm-mitotic spindle interface. F-actin may contribute to the regulatory mechanisms of microtubule-dependent or guided transport of vesicles during mitosis and cytokinesis in higher plant cells.

scholarly journals Ric-8A and Giα Recruit LGN, NuMA, and Dynein to the Cell Cortex To Help Orient the Mitotic Spindle

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 3519-3530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey E. Woodard ◽  
Ning-Na Huang ◽  
Hyeseon Cho ◽  
Toru Miki ◽  
Gregory G. Tall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Division ◽  
Mammalian Cell ◽  
Pertussis Toxin ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Nucleotide Exchange ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Signaling Complex

ABSTRACT In model organisms, resistance to inhibitors of cholinesterase 8 (Ric-8), a G protein α (Gα) subunit guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), functions to orient mitotic spindles during asymmetric cell divisions; however, whether Ric-8A has any role in mammalian cell division is unknown. We show here that Ric-8A and Gαi function to orient the metaphase mitotic spindle of mammalian adherent cells. During mitosis, Ric-8A localized at the cell cortex, spindle poles, centromeres, central spindle, and midbody. Pertussis toxin proved to be a useful tool in these studies since it blocked the binding of Ric-8A to Gαi, thus preventing its GEF activity for Gαi. Linking Ric-8A signaling to mammalian cell division, treatment of cells with pertussis toxin, reduction of Ric-8A expression, or decreased Gαi expression similarly affected metaphase cells. Each treatment impaired the localization of LGN (GSPM2), NuMA (microtubule binding nuclear mitotic apparatus protein), and dynein at the metaphase cell cortex and disturbed integrin-dependent mitotic spindle orientation. Live cell imaging of HeLa cells expressing green fluorescent protein-tubulin also revealed that reduced Ric-8A expression prolonged mitosis, caused occasional mitotic arrest, and decreased mitotic spindle movements. These data indicate that Ric-8A signaling leads to assembly of a cortical signaling complex that functions to orient the mitotic spindle.

scholarly journals Control of Mitotic Spindle Position by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Formin Bni1p

1999 ◽  
Vol 144 (5) ◽  
pp. 947-961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laifong Lee ◽  
Saskia K. Klee ◽  
Marie Evangelista ◽  
Charles Boone ◽  
David Pellman
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Cortical Microtubule ◽  
Spindle Pole Body ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Spindle Orientation ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Cortical Actin ◽  
Bud Site ◽  
Spindle Position

Alignment of the mitotic spindle with the axis of cell division is an essential process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is mediated by interactions between cytoplasmic microtubules and the cell cortex. We found that a cortical protein, the yeast formin Bni1p, was required for spindle orientation. Two striking abnormalities were observed in bni1Δ cells. First, the initial movement of the spindle pole body (SPB) toward the emerging bud was defective. This phenotype is similar to that previously observed in cells lacking the kinesin Kip3p and, in fact, BNI1 and KIP3 were found to be in the same genetic pathway. Second, abnormal pulling interactions between microtubules and the cortex appeared to cause preanaphase spindles in bni1Δ cells to transit back and forth between the mother and the bud. We therefore propose that Bni1p may localize or alter the function of cortical microtubule-binding sites in the bud. Additionally, we present evidence that other bipolar bud site determinants together with cortical actin are also required for spindle orientation.

Actin microfilaments are associated with the migrating nucleus and the cell cortex in the green alga Micrasterias. Studies on living cells

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (7) ◽  
pp. 1929-1934 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Meindl ◽  
D. Zhang ◽  
P.K. Hepler
Keyword(s):  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Nuclear Migration ◽  
Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Actin Network ◽  
Cortical Actin ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Rhodamine Phalloidin ◽  
Growing Cell

Rhodamine-phalloidin or FITC-phalloidin has been injected in small amounts into living, developing cells of Micrasterias denticulata and the stained microfilaments visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results reveal that two different actin filament systems are present in a growing cell: a cortical actin network that covers the inner surface of the cell and is extended far into the tips of the lobes in both the growing and the nongrowing semicell; it is also associated with the surface of the chloroplast. The second actin system ensheathes the nucleus at the isthmus-facing side during nuclear migration. Its arrangement corresponds to that of the microtubule system that has been described in earlier electron microscopic investigations. The spatial correspondence between the distribution of actin filaments and microtubules suggests a cooperation between both cytoskeleton elements in generating the motive force for nuclear migration. The function of the cortical actin network is not yet clear. It may be involved in processes like transport and fusion of secretory vesicles and may also function in shaping and anchoring the chloroplast.

Structure of the cortical cytoskeleton in mammalian outer hair cells

1992 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.C. Holley ◽  
F. Kalinec ◽  
B. Kachar
Keyword(s):  
Hair Cells ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Outer Hair Cells ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Rhodamine Phalloidin ◽  
Deoxyribonuclease I ◽  
Unit Structure ◽  
Cross Links ◽  
Elastic Responses ◽  
Discrete Domains

The cortical cytoskeletal lattice in outer hair cells is a two-dimensional actin-based structure, which can be labelled with rhodamine/phalloidin and disrupted by the enzyme deoxyribonuclease I. Structural information from thin sectioned, freeze-etched and negatively stained preparations shows that it is based upon two types of filament that form a cross-linked lattice of circumferential filaments. The cross-links are 70–80 nm long. Measurements of the spacing between circumferential filaments suggest that the lattice is stiffer circumferentially than it is longitudinally. Analysis of the orientation of circumferential filaments shows that it is composed of discrete domains of up to 10 microns 2. Relative movements between domains could allow substantial changes of cell shape without disrupting the unit structure of the lattice, thus allowing the cell cortex to retain its elastic responses to high-frequency deformations.

scholarly journals Cortical and cytoplasmic flow polarity in early embryonic cells of Caenorhabditis elegans.

1993 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1343-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
S N Hird ◽  
J G White
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Embryonic Cells ◽  
Cortical Actin ◽  
Contractile Ring ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Microtubule Polymerization ◽  
Polymerization Inhibitor ◽  
Motile Cells

We have examined the cortex of Caenorhabditis elegans eggs during pseudocleavage (PC), a period of the first cell cycle which is important for the generation of asymmetry at first cleavage (Strome, S. 1989. Int. Rev. Cytol. 114: 81-123). We have found that directed, actin dependent, cytoplasmic, and cortical flow occurs during this period coincident with a rearrangement of the cortical actin cytoskeleton (Strome, S. 1986. J. Cell Biol. 103: 2241-2252). The flow velocity (4-7 microns/min) is similar to previously determined particle movements driven by cortical actin flows in motile cells. We show that directed flows occur in one of the daughters of the first division that itself divides asymmetrically, but not in its sister that divides symmetrically. The cortical and cytoplasmic events of PC can be mimicked in other cells during cytokinesis by displacing the mitotic apparatus with the microtubule polymerization inhibitor nocodazole. In all cases, the polarity of the resulting cortical and cytoplasmic flows correlates with the position of the attenuated mitotic spindle formed. These cortical flows are also accompanied by a change in the distribution of the cortical actin network. The polarity of this redistribution is similarly correlated with the location of the attenuated spindle. These observations suggest a mechanism for generating polarized flows of cytoplasmic and cortical material during embryonic cleavages. We present a model for the events of PC and suggest how the poles of the mitotic spindle mediate the formation of the contractile ring during cytokinesis in C. elegans.

scholarly journals SLK-dependent activation of ERMs controls LGN–NuMA localization and spindle orientation

2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (6) ◽  
pp. 791-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mickael Machicoane ◽  
Cristina A. de Frutos ◽  
Jenny Fink ◽  
Murielle Rocancourt ◽  
Yannis Lombardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Spindle Orientation ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Mitotic Entry ◽  
Spindle Microtubules ◽  
Force Generator

Mitotic spindle orientation relies on a complex dialog between the spindle microtubules and the cell cortex, in which F-actin has been recently implicated. Here, we report that the membrane–actin linkers ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERMs) are strongly and directly activated by the Ste20-like kinase at mitotic entry in mammalian cells. Using microfabricated adhesive substrates to control the axis of cell division, we found that the activation of ERMs plays a key role in guiding the orientation of the mitotic spindle. Accordingly, impairing ERM activation in apical progenitors of the mouse embryonic neocortex severely disturbed spindle orientation in vivo. At the molecular level, ERM activation promotes the polarized association at the mitotic cortex of leucine-glycine-asparagine repeat protein (LGN) and nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA) protein, two essential factors for spindle orientation. We propose that activated ERMs, together with Gαi, are critical for the correct localization of LGN–NuMA force generator complexes and hence for proper spindle orientation.

scholarly journals Cleavage furrow: timing of emergence of contractile ring actin filaments and establishment of the contractile ring by filament bundling in sea urchin eggs

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (7) ◽  
pp. 1853-1862 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Mabuchi
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Binding Sites ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Cleavage Furrow ◽  
Cortical Actin ◽  
Contractile Ring ◽  
Rhodamine Phalloidin

Cleavage furrow formation at the first cell division of sea urchin and sand dollar eggs was investigated in detail by fluorescence staining of actin filaments with rhodamine-phalloidin of either whole eggs or isolated egg cortices. Cortical actin filaments were clustered at anaphase and then the clusters became fibrillar at the end of anaphase. The timing when the contractile ring actin filaments appear was precisely determined in the course of mitosis: accumulation of the contractile ring actin filaments at the equatorial cell cortex is first noticed at the beginning of telophase (shortly before furrow formation), when the chromosomal vesicles are fusing with each other. The accumulated actin filaments were not well organized at the early stage but were organized into parallel bundles as the furrowing progressed. The bundles were finally fused into a tightly packed filament belt. Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-binding sites were distributed on the surface of the egg in a manner similar to the actin filaments after anaphase. The WGA-binding sites became accumulated in the contractile ring together with the contractile ring actin filaments, indicating an intimate relationship between these sites and actin filament-anchoring sites on the plasma membrane. Myosin also appeared in the contractile ring together with the actin filaments. The ‘cleavage stimulus’, a signal hypothesized by Rappaport (reviewed by R. Rappaport (1986) Int. Rev. Cytol. 105, 245–281) was suggested to induce aggregation or bundling of the actin filaments in the cortical layer.

Structural Studies on Mitotic Spindle Fibres

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 615-626
Author(s):  
J.R. Mcintosh
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Structural Studies ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Chemical Studies ◽  
Medical Interest ◽  
Spindle Fibres

The mitotic apparatus is a structure of obvious biological and medical interest, but it has proved to be a difficult cellular machine to understand. The chemical composition of the spindle is only slightly elucidated, largely because of the difficulties in preparing useful isolates of the structure. Chemical studies of the mitotic spindle have been reviewed elsewhere (Mcintosh, 1977), and will not be discussed further here. One would think that structural studies on the mitotic apparatus (MA) in situ would be straightforward, but even with this approach there is some disagreement in the results obtained with various methods and by different investigators. In this paper I will review briefly the approaches which have been used in structural studies of the MA, pointing out the strengths and problems of each approach. I will summarize the principal findings of the different methods, and identify what seem to be fruitful avenues for further work.

Filaments and membranes in the mitotic apparatus

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 544-547
Author(s):  
Kent McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Intermediate Filaments ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Mitotic Apparatus ◽  
Light Microscope Level ◽  
Microtubule Associated Proteins ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Force Generator ◽  
Spindle Function ◽  
Antibody Technology

At the light microscope level the recent developments and interest in antibody technology have permitted the localization of certain non-microtubule proteins within the mitotic spindle, e.g., calmodulin, actin, intermediate filaments, protein kinases and various microtubule associated proteins. Also, the use of fluorescent probes like chlorotetracycline suggest the presence of membranes in the spindle. Localization of non-microtubule structures in the spindle at the EM level has been less rewarding. Some mitosis researchers, e.g., Rarer, have maintained that actin is involved in mitosis movements though the bulk of evidence argues against this interpretation. Others suggest that a microtrabecular network such as found in chromatophore granule movement might be a possible force generator but there is little evidence for or against this view. At the level of regulation of spindle function, Harris and more recently Hepler have argued for the importance of studying spindle membranes. Hepler also believes that membranes might play a structural or mechanical role in moving chromosomes.

Confocal microscopy of the cytoskeleton in living plant cells following microinjection of fluorescent probes

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 130-131
Author(s):  
Ann Cleary
Keyword(s):  
Cell Division ◽  
Fluorescent Probes ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Intracellular Transport ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Plant Cells ◽  
Cell Plate ◽  
Cell Cortex ◽  
Living Plant ◽  
Rhodamine Phalloidin

Microinjection of fluorescent probes into living plant cells reveals new aspects of cell structure and function. Microtubules and actin filaments are dynamic components of the cytoskeleton and are involved in cell growth, division and intracellular transport. To date, cytoskeletal probes used in microinjection studies have included rhodamine-phalloidin for labelling actin filaments and fluorescently labelled animal tubulin for incorporation into microtubules. From a recent study of Tradescantia stamen hair cells it appears that actin may have a role in defining the plane of cell division. Unlike microtubules, actin is present in the cell cortex and delimits the division site throughout mitosis. Herein, I shall describe actin, its arrangement and putative role in cell plate placement, in another material, living cells of Tradescantia leaf epidermis.The epidermis is peeled from the abaxial surface of young leaves usually without disruption to cytoplasmic streaming or cell division. The peel is stuck to the base of a well slide using 0.1% polyethylenimine and bathed in a solution of 1% mannitol +/− 1 mM probenecid.

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