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Plastin increases cortical connectivity to facilitate robust polarization and timely cytokinesis.


ABSTRACT: The cell cortex is essential to maintain animal cell shape, and contractile forces generated within it by nonmuscle myosin II (NMY-2) drive cellular morphogenetic processes such as cytokinesis. The role of actin cross-linking proteins in cortical dynamics is still incompletely understood. Here, we show that the evolutionarily conserved actin bundling/cross-linking protein plastin is instrumental for the generation of potent cortical actomyosin contractility in the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote. PLST-1 was enriched in contractile structures and was required for effective coalescence of NMY-2 filaments into large contractile foci and for long-range coordinated contractility in the cortex. In the absence of PLST-1, polarization was compromised, cytokinesis was delayed or failed, and 50% of embryos died during development. Moreover, mathematical modeling showed that an optimal amount of bundling agents enhanced the ability of a network to contract. We propose that by increasing the connectivity of the F-actin meshwork, plastin enables the cortex to generate stronger and more coordinated forces to accomplish cellular morphogenesis.

SUBMITTER: Ding WY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5412556 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Plastin increases cortical connectivity to facilitate robust polarization and timely cytokinesis.

Ding Wei Yung WY   Ong Hui Ting HT   Hara Yusuke Y   Wongsantichon Jantana J   Toyama Yusuke Y   Robinson Robert C RC   Nédélec François F   Zaidel-Bar Ronen R  

The Journal of cell biology 20170411 5


The cell cortex is essential to maintain animal cell shape, and contractile forces generated within it by nonmuscle myosin II (NMY-2) drive cellular morphogenetic processes such as cytokinesis. The role of actin cross-linking proteins in cortical dynamics is still incompletely understood. Here, we show that the evolutionarily conserved actin bundling/cross-linking protein plastin is instrumental for the generation of potent cortical actomyosin contractility in the <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> z  ...[more]

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