scholarly journals Two-step interphase microtubule disassembly aids spindle morphogenesis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nunu Mchedlishvili ◽  
Helen K. Matthews ◽  
Adam Corrigan ◽  
Buzz Baum

AbstractEntry into mitosis triggers profound changes in cell shape and cytoskeletal organisation. Here, by studying microtubule remodelling in human flat mitotic cells, we identify a two-step process of interphase microtubule disassembly. First, a microtubule stabilizing protein, Ensconsin, is inactivated in prophase as a consequence of its phosphorylation downstream of Cdk1/CyclinB. This leads to a reduction in interphase microtubule stability that may help to fuel the growth of centrosomally-nucleated microtubules. The peripheral interphase microtubules that remain are then rapidly lost as the concentration of tubulin heterodimers falls following dissolution of the nuclear compartment boundary. Finally, we show that a failure to destabilize microtubules in prophase leads to the formation of microtubule clumps, which interfere with spindle assembly. Overall, this analysis highlights the importance of the stepwise remodelling of the microtubule cytoskeleton, and the significance of permeabilization of the nuclear envelope in coordinating the changes in cellular organisation and biochemistry that accompany mitotic entry.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clint S. Ko ◽  
Prateek Kalakuntla ◽  
Adam C. Martin

AbstractDuring development, coordinated cell shape changes and cell divisions sculpt tissues. While these individual cell behaviors have been extensively studied, how cell shape changes and cell divisions that occur concurrently in epithelia influence tissue shape is less understood. We addressed this question in two contexts of the early Drosophila embryo: premature cell division during mesoderm invagination, and native ectodermal cell divisions with ectopic activation of apical contractility. Using quantitative live-cell imaging, we demonstrated that mitotic entry reverses apical contractility by interfering with medioapical RhoA signaling. While premature mitotic entry inhibits mesoderm invagination, which relies on apical constriction, mitotic entry in an artificially contractile ectoderm induced ectopic tissue invaginations. Ectopic invaginations resulted from medioapical myosin loss in neighboring mitotic cells. This myosin loss enabled non-mitotic cells to apically constrict through mitotic cell stretching. Thus, the spatial pattern of mitotic entry can differentially regulate tissue shape through signal interference between apical contractility and mitosis.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 611-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Silverman-Gavrila ◽  
Lorelei Silverman-Gavrila

Originally characterized as regulators of cytokinesis, septins were later implicated in other cellular processes. Recent studies show that septins have a broader role in microtubule-dependent processes, such as karyokinesis, exocytosis, and maintenance of cell shape. Many members of the septin family have been shown to colocalize or interact with the microtubule cytoskeleton, suggesting that these might be general properties of septins. Septins could play an important role in regulating microtubule dynamics by interacting with microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) that modulate microtubule stability. Being able to associate with both microtubules and actin, septins can play an important role as adaptors between the two cytoskeletons and as regulators of processes in which both actin and microtubules are involved. As septins are associated with various neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, a better understanding of the biology of septins and their interactions with microtubules is important in order to develop possible therapeutic strategies for these diseases.


1995 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Zhang ◽  
R B Nicklas

Chromosomes are known to enhance spindle microtubule assembly in grasshopper spermatocytes, which suggested to us that chromosomes might play an essential role in the initiation of spindle formation. Chromosomes might, for example, activate other spindle components such as centrosomes and tubulin subunits upon the breakdown of the nuclear envelope. We tested this possibility in living grasshopper spermatocytes. We ruptured the nuclear envelope during prophase, which prematurely exposed the centrosomes to chromosomes and nuclear sap. Spindle assembly was promptly initiated. In contrast, assembly of the spindle was completely inhibited if the nucleus was mechanically removed from a late prophase cell. Other experiments showed that the trigger for spindle assembly is associated with the chromosomes; other constituents of the nucleus cannot initiate spindle assembly in the absence of the chromosomes. The initiation of spindle assembly required centrosomes as well as chromosomes. Extracting centrosomes from late prophase cells completely inhibited spindle assembly after dissolution of the nuclear envelope. We conclude that the normal formation of a bipolar spindle in grasshopper spermatocytes is regulated by chromosomes. A possible explanation is an activator, perhaps a chromosomal protein (Yeo, J.-P., F. Alderuccio, and B.-H. Toh. 1994a. Nature (Lond.). 367: 288-291), that promotes and stabilizes the assembly of astral microtubules and thus promotes assembly of the spindle.


Author(s):  
Michela Ballardin ◽  
Ignazia Tusa ◽  
Nunzia Fontana ◽  
Agostino Monorchio ◽  
Chiara Pelletti ◽  
...  

Development ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 145 (11) ◽  
pp. dev151571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Del Bel ◽  
Nigel Griffiths ◽  
Ronit Wilk ◽  
Ho-Chun Wei ◽  
Anastasia Blagoveshchenskaya ◽  
...  

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia Huei Tan ◽  
Ivana Gasic ◽  
Sabina P Huber-Reggi ◽  
Damian Dudka ◽  
Marin Barisic ◽  
...  

Chromosome alignment in the middle of the bipolar spindle is a hallmark of metazoan cell divisions. When we offset the metaphase plate position by creating an asymmetric centriole distribution on each pole, we find that metaphase plates relocate to the middle of the spindle before anaphase. The spindle assembly checkpoint enables this centering mechanism by providing cells enough time to correct metaphase plate position. The checkpoint responds to unstable kinetochore–microtubule attachments resulting from an imbalance in microtubule stability between the two half-spindles in cells with an asymmetric centriole distribution. Inactivation of the checkpoint prior to metaphase plate centering leads to asymmetric cell divisions and daughter cells of unequal size; in contrast, if the checkpoint is inactivated after the metaphase plate has centered its position, symmetric cell divisions ensue. This indicates that the equatorial position of the metaphase plate is essential for symmetric cell divisions.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 2031-2044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara C. M. van de Weerdt ◽  
Marcel A. T. M. van Vugt ◽  
Catherine Lindon ◽  
Jos J. W. Kauw ◽  
Marieke J. Rozendaal ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) plays a role in numerous events in mitosis, but how the multiple functions of Plk1 are separated is poorly understood. We studied regulation of Plk1 through two putative phosphorylation residues, Ser-137 and Thr-210. Using phospho-specific antibodies, we found that Thr-210 phosphorylation precedes Ser-137 phosphorylation in vivo, the latter occurring specifically in late mitosis. We show that expression of two activating mutants of these residues, S137D and T210D, results in distinct mitotic phenotypes. Whereas expression of both phospho-mimicking mutants as well as of the double mutant leads to accelerated mitotic entry, further progression through mitosis is dramatically different: the T210D mutant causes a spindle assembly checkpoint-dependent delay, whereas the expression of the S137D mutant or the double mutant results in untimely activation of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and frequent mitotic catastrophe. Using nonphosphorylatable Plk1-S137A and Plk1-T210A mutants, we show that both sites contribute to proper mitotic progression. Based on these observations, we propose that Plk1 function is altered at different stages of mitosis through consecutive posttranslational events, e.g., at Ser-137 and Thr-210. Furthermore, our data show that uncontrolled Plk1 activation can uncouple APC/C activity from spindle assembly checkpoint control.


1973 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Benjamin Bouck ◽  
David L. Brown

In the first of two companion papers which attempt to correlate microtubules and their nucleating sites with developmental and cell division patterns in the unicellular flagellate, Ochromonas, the distribution of cytoplasmic and mitotic microtubules and various kinetosome-related fibers are detailed. Of the five kinetosome-related fibers, which have been found in Ochromonas, two, the kineto-beak fibers and the rhizoplast fibers are utilized as attachment sites for distinct groups of microtubules. The set of microtubules attached to the kineto-beak fibers apparently shape the anterior beak region of the cell whereas the rhizoplast microtubules appear to extend into and shape the tail in vegetative cells. In mitotic cells a rhizoplast is found at each spindle pole apparently serving as foci for the spindle microtubules. These findings are discussed in relation to the less well defined attachment sites for vegetative and mitotic microtubules in other kinds of cells. It is noted that the effects of depolymerizing microtubules in vivo might be easily quantitated in whole populations since no external wall or pellicle contributes to the maintenance or the biogenesis of the characteristic cell form of Ochromonas.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1768-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Campbell ◽  
Alexander Lorenz ◽  
Keren L. Witkin ◽  
Thomas Hays ◽  
Josef Loidl ◽  
...  

Little is known about what dictates the round shape of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleus. In spo7Δ mutants, the nucleus is misshapen, exhibiting a single protrusion. The Spo7 protein is part of a phosphatase complex that represses phospholipid biosynthesis. Here, we report that the nuclear protrusion of spo7Δ mutants colocalizes with the nucleolus, whereas the nuclear compartment containing the bulk of the DNA is unaffected. Using strains in which the nucleolus is not intimately associated with the nuclear envelope, we show that the single nuclear protrusion of spo7Δ mutants is not a result of nucleolar expansion, but rather a property of the nuclear membrane. We found that in spo7Δ mutants the peripheral endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane was also expanded. Because the nuclear membrane and the ER are contiguous, this finding indicates that in spo7Δ mutants all ER membranes, with the exception of the membrane surrounding the bulk of the DNA, undergo expansion. Our results suggest that the nuclear envelope has distinct domains that differ in their ability to resist membrane expansion in response to increased phospholipid biosynthesis. We further propose that in budding yeast there is a mechanism, or structure, that restricts nuclear membrane expansion around the bulk of the DNA.


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