scholarly journals Molecular organization of cytokinesis nodes and contractile rings by super-resolution fluorescence microscopy of live fission yeast

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (40) ◽  
pp. E5876-E5885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Laplante ◽  
Fang Huang ◽  
Irene R. Tebbs ◽  
Joerg Bewersdorf ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard

Cytokinesis in animals, fungi, and amoebas depends on the constriction of a contractile ring built from a common set of conserved proteins. Many fundamental questions remain about how these proteins organize to generate the necessary tension for cytokinesis. Using quantitative high-speed fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy (FPALM), we probed this question in live fission yeast cells at unprecedented resolution. We show that nodes, protein assembly precursors to the contractile ring, are discrete structural units with stoichiometric ratios and distinct distributions of constituent proteins. Anillin Mid1p, Fes/CIP4 homology-Bin/amphiphysin/Rvs (F-BAR) Cdc15p, IQ motif containing GTPase-activating protein (IQGAP) Rng2p, and formin Cdc12p form the base of the node that anchors the ends of myosin II tails to the plasma membrane, with myosin II heads extending into the cytoplasm. This general node organization persists in the contractile ring where nodes move bidirectionally during constriction. We observed the dynamics of the actin network during cytokinesis, starting with the extension of short actin strands from nodes, which sometimes connected neighboring nodes. Later in cytokinesis, a broad network of thick bundles coalesced into a tight ring around the equator of the cell. The actin ring was ∼125 nm wide and ∼125 nm thick. These observations establish the organization of the proteins in the functional units of a cytokinetic contractile ring.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary A. McDargh ◽  
Shuyuan Wang ◽  
Harvey F. Chin ◽  
Sathish Thiyagarajan ◽  
Erdem Karatekin ◽  
...  

During cytokinesis, cells assemble an actomyosin contractile ring whose tension constricts and divides cells, but the ring tension was rarely measured. Actomyosin force generation is well understood for the regular sarcomeric architecture of striated muscle, but recent super-resolution studies of fission yeast contractile rings revealed organizational building blocks that are not sarcomeres but irregularly positioned plasma membrane-anchored protein complexes called nodes. Here, we measured contractile ring tensions in fission yeast protoplast cells. The myosin II isoforms Myo2 and Myp2 generated the tension, with a ~2-fold greater contribution from Myo2. Simulations of a molecularly detailed ring model revealed a sliding node mechanism for tension, where nodes hosting tense actin filaments were pulled bidirectionally around the ring. Myo2 and Myp2 chaperoned self-assembling components into the ring organization, and anchored the ring against bridging instabilities. Thus, beyond force production, Myo2 and Myp2 are the principal organizers, bundlers and anchors of the contractile ring.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (20) ◽  
pp. 3993-4007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shambaditya Saha ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard

Fission yeast cells depend on the anillin-related protein Mid1p for reliable cytokinesis. Insolubility limits the purification of full-length Mid1p for biophysical analysis, and lack of knowledge about the structural domains of Mid1p limits functional analysis. We addressed these limitations by identifying in a bacterial expression screen of random Mid1p fragments five soluble segments that can be purified and one insoluble segment. Using complementation experiments in Δmid1 cells, we tested the biological functions of these six putative domains that account for full-length Mid1p. The N-terminal domain (residues 1–149) is essential for correct positioning and orientation of septa. The third domain (residues 309–452) allows the construct composed of the first three domains (residues 1-452) to form hydrodynamically well-behaved octamers. Constructs consisting of residues 1–452 or 1–578 carry out most functions of full-length Mid1p, including concentration at the equatorial cortex in nodes that accumulate myosin-II and other contractile ring proteins during mitosis. However, cells depending on these constructs without the insoluble domain (residues 579–797) form equatorially located rings slowly from strands rather than by direct condensation of nodes. We conclude that residues 1–578 assemble node components myosin-II, Rng2p, and Cdc15p, and the insoluble domain facilitates the normal, efficient condensation of nodes into rings.


2004 ◽  
Vol 165 (5) ◽  
pp. 685-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumio Motegi ◽  
Mithilesh Mishra ◽  
Mohan K. Balasubramanian ◽  
Issei Mabuchi

Cytokinesis in many eukaryotes requires an actomyosin contractile ring. Here, we show that in fission yeast the myosin-II heavy chain Myo2 initially accumulates at the division site via its COOH-terminal 134 amino acids independently of F-actin. The COOH-terminal region can access to the division site at early G2, whereas intact Myo2 does so at early mitosis. Ser1444 in the Myo2 COOH-terminal region is a phosphorylation site that is dephosphorylated during early mitosis. Myo2 S1444A prematurely accumulates at the future division site and promotes formation of an F-actin ring even during interphase. The accumulation of Myo2 requires the anillin homologue Mid1 that functions in proper ring placement. Myo2 interacts with Mid1 in cell lysates, and this interaction is inhibited by an S1444D mutation in Myo2. Our results suggest that dephosphorylation of Myo2 liberates the COOH-terminal region from an intramolecular inhibition. Subsequently, dephosphorylated Myo2 is anchored by Mid1 at the medial cortex and promotes the ring assembly in cooperation with F-actin.


Author(s):  
Caroline Laplante ◽  
Fang Huang ◽  
Joerg Bewersdorf ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (20) ◽  
pp. 3982-3992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shambaditya Saha ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard

In fission yeast cells cortical nodes containing the protein Blt1p and several kinases appear early in G2, mature into cytokinetic nodes by adding anillin Mid1p, myosin-II, formin Cdc12p, and other proteins, and condense into a contractile ring by movements that depend on actin and myosin-II. Previous studies concluded that cells without Mid1p lack cytokinetic nodes and assemble rings unreliably from myosin-II strands but left open questions. Why do strands form outside the equatorial region? Why is ring assembly unreliable without Mid1p? We found in Δmid1 cells that Cdc12p accumulates in cytokinetic nodes scattered in the cortex and produces actin filaments that associate with myosin-II, Rng2p, and Cdc15p to form strands located between the nodes. Strands incorporate nodes, and in ∼67% of cells, strands slowly close into rings that constrict without the normal ∼25-min maturation period. Ring assembly is unreliable and slow without Mid1p because the scattered Cdc12p nodes generate strands spread widely beyond the equator, and growing strands depend on random encounters to merge with other strands into a ring. We conclude that orderly assembly of the contractile ring in wild-type cells depends on Mid1p to recruit myosin-II, Rng2p, and Cdc15p to nodes and to place cytokinetic nodes around the cell equator.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1933-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentaro Nakano ◽  
Issei Mabuchi

The role of the actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin-family protein Adf1 in cytokinesis of fission yeast cells was studied. Adf1 was required for accumulation of actin at the division site by depolymerizing actin at the cell ends, assembly of the contractile ring through severing actin filaments, and maintenance of the contractile ring once formed. Genetic and cytological analyses suggested that it collaborates with profilin and capping protein in the mitotic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore, it was unexpectedly found that Adf1 and myosin-II also collaborate in assembling the contractile ring. Tropomyosin was shown to antagonize the function of Adf1 in the contractile ring. We propose that formation and maintenance of the contractile ring are achieved by a balanced collaboration of these proteins.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 989-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Stark ◽  
Thomas E. Sladewski ◽  
Luther W. Pollard ◽  
Matthew Lord

Myosin-II (Myo2p) and tropomyosin are essential for contractile ring formation and cytokinesis in fission yeast. Here we used a combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches to understand how these proteins function at contractile rings. We find that ring assembly is delayed in Myo2p motor and tropomyosin mutants, but occurs prematurely in cells engineered to express two copies of myo2. Thus, the timing of ring assembly responds to changes in Myo2p cellular levels and motor activity, and the emergence of tropomyosin-bound actin filaments. Doubling Myo2p levels suppresses defects in ring assembly associated with a tropomyosin mutant, suggesting a role for tropomyosin in maximizing Myo2p function. Correspondingly, tropomyosin increases Myo2p actin affinity and ATPase activity and promotes Myo2p-driven actin filament gliding in motility assays. Tropomyosin achieves this by favoring the strong actin-bound state of Myo2p. This mode of regulation reflects a role for tropomyosin in specifying and stabilizing actomyosin interactions, which facilitates contractile ring assembly in the fission yeast system.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masak Takaine ◽  
Osamu Numata ◽  
Kentaro Nakano

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