F-actin ring formation and the role of F-actin cables in the fission yeastSchizosaccharomyces pombe

2002 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 887-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritsuko Arai ◽  
Issei Mabuchi

Cells of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe divide by the contraction of the F-actin ring formed at the medial region of the cell. We investigated the process of F-actin ring formation in detail using optical sectioning and three-dimensional reconstruction fluorescence microscopy. In wild-type cells, formation of an aster-like structure composed of F-actin cables and accumulation of F-actin cables were recognized at the medial cortex of the cell during prophase to metaphase. The formation of the aster-like structure seemed to initiate from branching of the longitudinal F-actin cables at a site near the spindle pole bodies, which had been duplicated but not yet separated. A single cable extended from the aster and encircled the cell at the equator to form a primary F-actin ring during metaphase. During anaphase,the accumulated F-actin cables were linked to the primary F-actin ring, and then all of these structures seemed to be packed to form the F-actin ring. These observations suggest that formation of the aster-like structure and the accumulation of the F-actin cables at the medial region of the cell during metaphase may be required to initiate the F-actin ring formation. In the nda3 mutant, which has a mutation in ß-tubulin and has been thought to be arrested at prophase, an F-actin ring with accumulated F-actin cables similar to that of anaphase wild-type cells was formed at a restrictive temperature. Immediately after shifting to a permissive temperature, this structure changed into a tightly packed ring. This suggests that the F-actin ring formation progresses beyond prophase in the nda3 cells once the cells enter prophase. We further examined F-actin structures in both cdc12 and cdc15 early cytokinesis mutants. As a result,Cdc12 seemed to be required for the primary F-actin ring formation during prophase, whereas Cdc15 may be involved in both packing the F-actin cables to form the F-actin ring and rearrangement of the F-actin after anaphase. In spg1, cdc7 and sid2 septum initiation mutants, the F-actin ring seemed to be formed in order.

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 902-905
Author(s):  
M Narkhammar ◽  
R Hand

ts BN-2 is a temperature-sensitive hamster cell line that is defective in DNA synthesis at the restrictive temperature. The mutant expresses its defect during in vitro replication in whole-cell lysates. Addition of a high-salt-concentration extract from wild-type BHK-21, revertant RBN-2, or CHO cells to mutant cells lysed with 0.01% Brij 58 increased the activity in the mutant three- to fourfold, so that it reached 85% of the control value, and restored replicative synthesis. The presence of extract had an insignificant effect on wild-type and revertant replication and on mutant replication at the permissive temperature. Extract prepared from mutant cells was less effective than the wild-type cell extract was. Also, the stimulatory activity was more heat labile in the mutant than in the wild-type extract. Nuclear extract was as active as whole-cell extract.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (3) ◽  
pp. 695-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph C. Chen ◽  
Michael Minev ◽  
Jon Beckwith

ABSTRACT FtsQ, a 276-amino-acid, bitopic membrane protein, is one of the nine proteins known to be essential for cell division in gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli. To define residues in FtsQ critical for function, we performed random mutagenesis on the ftsQ gene and identified four alleles (ftsQ2, ftsQ6, ftsQ15, and ftsQ65) that fail to complement the ftsQ1(Ts) mutation at the restrictive temperature. Two of the mutant proteins, FtsQ6 and FtsQ15, are functional at lower temperatures but are unable to localize to the division site unless wild-type FtsQ is depleted, suggesting that they compete poorly with the wild-type protein for septal targeting. The other two mutants, FtsQ2 and FtsQ65, are nonfunctional at all temperatures tested and have dominant-negative effects when expressed in an ftsQ1(Ts) strain at the permissive temperature. FtsQ2 and FtsQ65 localize to the division site in the presence or absence of endogenous FtsQ, but they cannot recruit downstream cell division proteins, such as FtsL, to the septum. These results suggest that FtsQ2 and FtsQ65 compete efficiently for septal targeting but fail to promote the further assembly of the cell division machinery. Thus, we have separated the localization ability of FtsQ from its other functions, including recruitment of downstream cell division proteins, and are beginning to define regions of the protein responsible for these distinct capabilities.


2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 5219-5230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoru Uzawa ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Ye Jin ◽  
Kent L. McDonald ◽  
Michael B. Braunfeld ◽  
...  

The regulation and timing of spindle pole body (SPB) duplication and maturation in fission yeast was examined by transmission electron microscopy. When cells are arrested at G1 by nitrogen starvation, the SPB is unduplicated. On release from G1, the SPBs were duplicated after 1–2 h. In cells arrested at S by hydroxyurea, SPBs are duplicated but not mature. In G1 arrest/release experiments with cdc2.33 cells at the restrictive temperature, SPBs remained single, whereas in cells at the permissive temperature, SPBs were duplicated. In cdc10 mutant cells, the SPBs seem not only to be duplicated but also to undergo partial maturation, including invagination of the nuclear envelope underneath the SPB. There may be an S-phase–specific inhibitor of SPB maturation whose expression is under control of cdc10+. This model was examined by induction of overreplication of the genome by overexpression of rum1p or cdc18p. In cdc18p-overexpressing cells, the SPBs are duplicated but not mature, suggesting that cdc18p is one component of this feedback mechanism. In contrast, cells overexpressing rum1p have large, deformed SPBs accompanied by other features of maturation and duplication. We propose a feedback mechanism for maturation of the SPB that is coupled with exit from S to trigger morphological changes.


Cytoskeleton ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 517-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haosu Tang ◽  
Tamara C. Bidone ◽  
Dimitrios Vavylonis

1988 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Hirano ◽  
Y Hiraoka ◽  
M Yanagida

A temperature-sensitive mutant nuc2-663 of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe specifically blocks mitotic spindle elongation at restrictive temperature so that nuclei in arrested cells contain a short uniform spindle (approximately 3-micron long), which runs through a metaphase plate-like structure consisting of three condensed chromosomes. In the wild-type or in the mutant cells at permissive temperature, the spindle is fully extended approximately 15-micron long in anaphase. The nuc2' gene was cloned in a 2.4-kb genomic DNA fragment by transformation, and its complete nucleotide sequence was determined. Its coding region predicts a 665-residues internally repeating protein (76.250 mol wt). By immunoblots using anti-sera raised against lacZ-nuc2+ fused proteins, a polypeptide (designated p67; 67,000 mol wt) encoded by nuc2+ is detected in the wild-type S. pombe extracts; the amount of p67 is greatly increased when multi-copy or high-expression plasmids carrying the nuc2+ gene are introduced into the S. pombe cells. Cellular fractionation and Percoll gradient centrifugation combined with immunoblotting show that p67 cofractionates with nuclei and is enriched in resistant structure that is insoluble in 2 M NaCl, 25 mM lithium 3,5'-diiodosalicylate, and 1% Triton but is soluble in 8 M urea. In nuc2 mutant cells, however, soluble p76, perhaps an unprocessed precursor, accumulates in addition to insoluble p67. The role of nuc2+ gene may be to interconnect nuclear and cytoskeletal functions in chromosome separation.


1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 1195-1204 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guenette ◽  
M. Magendantz ◽  
F. Solomon

To identify proteins that regulate microtubule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we screened for multicopy suppressors of a conditional mutation in alpha-tubulin. Cells expressing the recessive allele tub1-729 as their sole alpha-tubulin gene grow normally at permissive temperature. However, at 15 degrees C the cells lose viability and arrest primarily with large buds and quantitatively diminished microtubule structures. Transformation of mutant cells with genomic libraries repeatedly identified three different suppressors: the two wild-type alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3; and BUB3. BUB3 is a checkpoint gene that permits entry into mitosis depending upon the assembly state of microtubules. Excess BUB3 rescues both the loss of viability and microtubule defects but not the benomyl supersensitivity associated with tub1-729. The suppression is specific for the mutation ALA422VAL in TUB1, and does not affect several other mutations in TUB1 that produce the ‘no microtubule’ phenotype. Overexpression of BUB1, which interacts genetically with BUB3 and which is involved in the same checkpoint pathway, also rescues the cold sensitivity of tub1-729, but another checkpoint gene, MAD2, does not. Overexpression of BUB3 in wild-type cells has no detectable growth or microtubule defect, but disruption of the BUB3 gene produces slow growth and benomyl supersensitivity. Our results suggest that BUB1 and BUB3 overexpression modulate an event required for mitotic spindle function which is rate limiting for tub1-729 cells at the restrictive temperature.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 3052-3063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srinivas Venkatram ◽  
Jennifer L. Jennings ◽  
Andrew Link ◽  
Kathleen L. Gould

Microtubules regulate diverse cellular processes, including chromosome segregation, nuclear positioning, and cytokinesis. In many organisms, microtubule nucleation requires γ-tubulin and associated proteins present at specific microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs). In fission yeast, interphase cytoplasmic microtubules originate from poorly characterized interphase MTOCs and spindle pole body (SPB), and during late anaphase from the equatorial MTOC (EMTOC). It has been previously shown that Mto1p (Mbo1p/Mod20p) function is important for the organization/nucleation of all cytoplasmic microtubules. Here, we show that Mto2p, a novel protein, interacts with Mto1p and is important for establishing a normal interphase cytoplasmic microtubule array. In addition, mto2Δ cells fail to establish a stable EMTOC and localize γ-tubulin complex members to this medial structure. As predicted from these functions, Mto2p localizes to microtubules, the SPB, and the EMTOC in an Mto1p-dependent manner. mto2Δ cells fail to anchor the cytokinetic actin ring in the medial region of the cell and under conditions that mildly perturb actin structures, these rings unravel in mto2Δ cells. Our results suggest that the Mto2p and the EMTOC are critical for anchoring the cytokinetic actin ring to the medial region of the cell and for proper coordination of mitosis with cytokinesis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis C. Luca ◽  
Mark Winey

Mob1p is an essential Saccharomyces cerevisiaeprotein, identified from a two-hybrid screen, that binds Mps1p, a protein kinase essential for spindle pole body duplication and mitotic checkpoint regulation. Mob1p contains no known structural motifs; however MOB1 is a member of a conserved gene family and shares sequence similarity with a nonessential yeast gene,MOB2. Mob1p is a phosphoprotein in vivo and a substrate for the Mps1p kinase in vitro. Conditional alleles ofMOB1 cause a late nuclear division arrest at restrictive temperature. MOB1 exhibits genetic interaction with three other yeast genes required for the completion of mitosis,LTE1, CDC5, and CDC15 (the latter two encode essential protein kinases). Most haploid mutantmob1 strains also display a complete increase in ploidy at permissive temperature. The mechanism for the increase in ploidy may occur through MPS1 function. One mob1strain, which maintains stable haploidy at both permissive and restrictive temperature, diploidizes at permissive temperature when combined with the mps1–1 mutation. Strains containingmob2Δ also display a complete increase in ploidy when combined with the mps1-1 mutation. Perhaps in addition to, or as part of, its essential function in late mitosis, MOB1 is required for a cell cycle reset function necessary for the initiation of the spindle pole body duplication.


1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
E T O'Toole ◽  
D N Mastronarde ◽  
T H Giddings ◽  
M Winey ◽  
D J Burke ◽  
...  

The three-dimensional organization of mitotic microtubules in a mutant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been studied by computer-assisted serial reconstruction. At the nonpermissive temperature, cdc20 cells arrested with a spindle length of approximately 2.5 microns. These spindles contained a mean of 81 microtubules (range, 56-100) compared with 23 in wild-type spindles of comparable length. This increase in spindle microtubule number resulted in a total polymer length up to four times that of wild-type spindles. The spindle pole bodies in the cdc20 cells were approximately 2.3 times the size of wild-type, thereby accommodating the abnormally large number of spindle microtubules. The cdc20 spindles contained a large number of interpolar microtubules organized in a "core bundle." A neighbor density analysis of this bundle at the spindle midzone showed a preferred spacing of approximately 35 nm center-to-center between microtubules of opposite polarity. Although this is evidence of specific interaction between antiparallel microtubules, mutant spindles were less ordered than the spindle of wild-type cells. The number of noncore microtubules was significantly higher than that reported for wild-type, and these microtubules did not display a characteristic metaphase configuration. cdc20 spindles showed significantly more cross-bridges between spindle microtubules than were seen in the wild type. The cross-bridge density was highest between antiparallel microtubules. These data suggest that spindle microtubules are stabilized in cdc20 cells and that the CDC20 gene product may be involved in cell cycle processes that promote spindle microtubule disassembly.


2003 ◽  
Vol 161 (5) ◽  
pp. 875-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Kovar ◽  
Jeffrey R. Kuhn ◽  
Andrea L. Tichy ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard

Cytokinesis in most eukaryotes requires the assembly and contraction of a ring of actin filaments and myosin II. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe requires the formin Cdc12p and profilin (Cdc3p) early in the assembly of the contractile ring. The proline-rich formin homology (FH) 1 domain binds profilin, and the FH2 domain binds actin. Expression of a construct consisting of the Cdc12 FH1 and FH2 domains complements a conditional mutant of Cdc12 at the restrictive temperature, but arrests cells at the permissive temperature. Cells overexpressing Cdc12(FH1FH2)p stop growing with excessive actin cables but no contractile rings. Like capping protein, purified Cdc12(FH1FH2)p caps the barbed end of actin filaments, preventing subunit addition and dissociation, inhibits end to end annealing of filaments, and nucleates filaments that grow exclusively from their pointed ends. The maximum yield is one filament pointed end per six formin polypeptides. Profilins that bind both actin and poly-l-proline inhibit nucleation by Cdc12(FH1FH2)p, but polymerization of monomeric actin is faster, because the filaments grow from their barbed ends at the same rate as uncapped filaments. On the other hand, Cdc12(FH1FH2)p blocks annealing even in the presence of profilin. Thus, formins are profilin-gated barbed end capping proteins with the ability to initiate actin filaments from actin monomers bound to profilin. These properties explain why contractile ring assembly requires both formin and profilin and why viability depends on the ability of profilin to bind both actin and poly-l-proline.


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