Article
- The EMBO Journal (2005) 24, 1674 - 1685
- doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7600644
Published online: 14 April 2005
Subject Categories:
A novel mechanism of nuclear envelope break-down in a fungus: nuclear migration strips off the envelope
Anne Straube1,a, Isabella Weber1,b and Gero Steinberg1
- Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, Germany
Correspondence to:
Gero Steinberg, MPI für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany. Tel.: +49 6421 178530; Fax: +49 6421 178509; E-mail: Gero.Steinberg@staff.uni-marburg.de
aPresent address: Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, Scotland, UK
bPresent address: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Received 4 November 2004; Accepted 11 March 2005
Abstract
In animals, the nuclear envelope disassembles in mitosis, while budding and fission yeast form an intranuclear spindle. Ultrastructural data indicate that basidiomycetes, such as the pathogen Ustilago maydis, undergo an 'open mitosis'. Here we describe the mechanism of nuclear envelope break-down in U. maydis. In interphase, the nucleus resides in the mother cell and the spindle pole body is inactive. Prior to mitosis, it becomes activated and nucleates microtubules that reach into the daughter cell. Dynein appears at microtubule tips and exerts force on the spindle pole body, which leads to the formation of a long nuclear extension that reaches into the bud. Chromosomes migrate through this extension and together with the spindle pole bodies leave the old envelope, which remains in the mother cell until late telophase. Inhibition of nuclear migration or deletion of a Tem1p-like GTPase leads to a 'closed' mitosis, indicating that spindle pole bodies have to reach into the bud where MEN signalling participates in envelope removal. Our data indicate that dynein-mediated premitotic nuclear migration is essential for envelope removal in U. maydis.
Keywords:
- dynein,
- MEN signalling,
- nuclear envelope break-down,
- nuclear migration
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