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Specific accumulation of Rho-associated kinase at the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis: cleavage furrow-specific phosphorylation of intermediate filaments

Oncogene volume 18, pages 2783–2788 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The small GTPase Rho and one of its targets, Rho-associated kinase (Rho-kinase), are implicated in a wide spectrum of cellular functions, including cytoskeletal rearrangements, transcriptional activation and smooth muscle contraction. Since Rho also plays an essential role in cytokinesis, Rho-kinase may possibly mediate some biological aspects of cytokinesis. Here, using a series of monoclonal antibodies that can specifically recognize distinct phosphorylated sites on glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin, phosphorylation sites by Rho-kinase in vitro were revealed to be identical to in vivo phosphorylation sites on these intermediate filament (IF) proteins at the cleavage furrow in dividing cells. We then found, by preparing two types of anti-Rho-kinase antibodies, that Rho-kinase accumulated highly and circumferentially at the cleavage furrow in various cell lines. This subcellular distribution during cytokinesis was very similar to that of ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins and Ser19-phosphorylated myosin light chain. These results raise the possibility that Rho-kinase might be involved in the formation of the contractile ring by modulating these F-actin-binding proteins during cytokinesis and in the phosphorylation and regulation of IF proteins at the cleavage furrow.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs S Yonemura and S Tsukita for providing anti-ERM mAb (CR22); Dr F Matsumura for providing anti-phosphorylated MLC-Ser19 (pp2b); N Takahashi for preparing GST-CAT; F Shigei for financial support to YT and TO; K Ando for technical assistance; K Kuromiya for the secretarial services and M Ohara for critique of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research and Cancer Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan; Japan Society of the Promotion of Science Research for the Future; special coordination funds from the Science and Technology Agency of the Government of Japan; and a grant from Bristol-Myers-Squibb.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biochemistry, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, 464-8681, Aichi, Japan

    Hidetaka Kosako, Hidemasa Goto, Maki Yanagida, Kaori Matsuzawa & Masaki Inagaki

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Mie University School of Medicine, 514-8507, Tsu, Japan

    Hidemasa Goto

  3. Institute of Immunological Science, Hokkaido University, 060-0815, Sapporo, Japan

    Kaori Matsuzawa

  4. Laboratory of Viral Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, 464-8681, Aichi, Japan

    Masatoshi Fujita

  5. Division of Molecular and Cell Biology, Shigei Medical Research Institute, Okayama, 701-0202, Japan

    Yasuko Tomono & Tohru Okigaki

  6. Central Laboratories for Key Technology, Kirin Brewery Company Limited, Yokohama, 236-0004, Japan

    Hideharu Odai

  7. Division of Signal Transduction, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Ikoma, 630-0101, Japan

    Kozo Kaibuchi

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  1. Hidetaka Kosako
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Kosako, H., Goto, H., Yanagida, M. et al. Specific accumulation of Rho-associated kinase at the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis: cleavage furrow-specific phosphorylation of intermediate filaments. Oncogene 18, 2783–2788 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1202633

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