dictyNews

Electronic Edition

Volume 48, number 5

March 18, 2022



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Abstracts

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Patterning of the cell cortex and the localization of cleavage 

furrows in multi-nucleate cells 



Günther Gerisch, Jana Prassler, Mary Ecke





J Cell Sci jcs.259648, doi.org/10.1242/jcs.259648



In multi-nucleate cells of Dictyostelium, cytokinesis is performed 

by unilateral cleavage furrows that ingress the large cells from 

their border. We use a Septase-null mutant with delayed cytokinesis 

to show that in anaphase a pattern is generated in the cell cortex 

of cortexillin and myosin II. In multi-nucleate cells, these 

proteins decorate the entire cell cortex except circular zones 

around the centrosomes. Unilateral cleavage furrows are initiated 

at spaces free of microtubule asters, and invade the cells along 

trails of cortexillin and myosin II accumulation. Where these areas 

widen, the cleavage furrow may branch or expand. When two furrows 

meet, they will fuse, thus separating portions of the multi-nucleate 

cell from each other. Unilateral furrows are distinguished from the 

contractile ring of a normal furrow by their expansion rather than 

constriction. This is particularly evident for expanding ring-shaped 

furrows that are formed in the center of a large multi-nucleate cell. 

Our data suggest that the myosin II-enriched area in multi-nucleate 

cells is a contractile sheet, thus pulling on the unilateral furrows 

and in that way expanding them.





Submitted by Mary Ecke [[log in to unmask]]

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[End dictyNews, volume 48, number 5]