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Understanding cytokinesis: lessons from fission yeast

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 11, pages 149–155 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

For decades after the discovery that a contractile ring made of actin filaments and myosin II produces the force to constrict the cleavage furrow of animal cells, the complexity of cytokinesis has slowed progress in understanding the mechanism. Mechanistic insights, however, have been obtained by genetic, biochemical, microscopic and mathematical modelling approaches in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Many features that have been identified in fission yeast are probably shared with animal cells, as both inherited many cytokinesis genes from their common ancestor about one billion years ago.

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Figure 1: Strategies for cytokinesis used by plant, fission yeast and animal cells.
Figure 2: Time course of cytokinesis in fission yeast.
Figure 3: Mechanism of contractile ring assembly in fission yeast.

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Acknowledgements

The work in the T.D.P. laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant GM-026338 and the work in the J.-Q.W. laboratory is supported by an American Cancer Society Ohio Pilot research grant, American Heart Association Great Rivers Affiliate, Ohio Cancer Research Associates, Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar research award from the March of Dimes Foundation and the NIH research grant GM-086546. The authors thank Z. Cande, F. Chang, Q. Chen, J. Moseley and S. Saha for comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Thomas D. Pollard is at the Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, and the Departments of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and of Cell Biology, Yale University, PO BOX 208103, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103, USA.,

    Thomas D. Pollard

  2. Jian-Qiu Wu is at the Department of Molecular Genetics, and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.,

    Jian-Qiu Wu

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Correspondence to Thomas D. Pollard.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary information S1 (table) | Identified cytokinesis proteins in fission yeast (PDF 391 kb)

41580_2010_BFnrm2834_MOESM249_ESM.mov

Supplementary information S2 (movie) | The contractile ring forms from a broad band of nodes around the equator of the cell. (MOV 607 kb)

41580_2010_BFnrm2834_MOESM250_ESM.pdf

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Pollard, T., Wu, JQ. Understanding cytokinesis: lessons from fission yeast. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 11, 149–155 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2834

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