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  • The EMBO Journal (2008) 27, 3151 - 3163
  • doi:10.1038/emboj.2008.227

Published online: 30 October 2008

Cytokinesis of neuroepithelial cells can divide their basal process before anaphase

Yoichi Kosodo1,c, Kazunori Toida2,ab, Veronique Dubreuil1,ad, Paula Alexandre3,a, Judith Schenk1, Emi Kiyokage2,b, Alessio Attardo1, Felipe Mora-Bermúdez1, Tatsuo Arii4, Jon D W Clarke3, and Wieland B Huttner1

  1. Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
  2. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan
  3. Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
  4. Section of Brain Structure Information, Supportive Center for Brain Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan

Correspondence to:

Wieland B Huttner, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, 01307 Dresden , Germany. Tel.: +49 351 210 1500; Fax: +49 351 210 1600; E-mail: huttner@mpi-cbg.de

aJoint second authors

bPresent address: Department of Anatomy, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan

cPresent address: Center for Developmental Biology, RIKEN, Kobe, Japan

dPresent address: UMR 8542, CNRS, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France

ePresent address: MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK

Received 10 March 2008; Accepted 2 October 2008

Neuroepithelial (NE) cells, the primary stem and progenitor cells of the vertebrate central nervous system, are highly polarized and elongated. They retain a basal process extending to the basal lamina, while undergoing mitosis at the apical side of the ventricular zone. By studying NE cells in the embryonic mouse, chick and zebrafish central nervous system using confocal microscopy, electron microscopy and time-lapse imaging, we show here that the basal process of these cells can split during M phase. Splitting occurred in the basal-to-apical direction and was followed by inheritance of the processes by either one or both daughter cells. A cluster of anillin, an essential component of the cytokinesis machinery, appeared at the distal end of the basal process in prophase and was found to colocalize with F-actin at bifurcation sites, in both proliferative and neurogenic NE cells. GFP–anillin in the basal process moved apically to the cell body prior to anaphase onset, followed by basal-to-apical ingression of the cleavage furrow in telophase. The splitting of the basal process of M-phase NE cells has implications for cleavage plane orientation and the relationship between mitosis and cytokinesis.

  • Keywords:

    • anillin,
    • cell division,
    • cell polarity,
    • cleavage plane orientation,
    • contractile ring