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Plant formin AtFH5 is an evolutionarily conserved actin nucleator involved in cytokinesis

Nature Cell Biology volume 7, pages 374–380 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Formins are actin-organizing proteins that are involved in cytokinesis and cell polarity1. In the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, there are more than 20 formin homologues, all of which have unknown roles2. In this study, we characterize specific cellular and molecular functions of the Arabidopsis formin AtFH5. Despite the low identity of AtFH5 to yeast and mammalian formins, the AtFH5 protein interacts with the barbed end of actin filaments and nucleates actin-filament polymerization in vitro, as is the case in yeast and mammals. In vivo, the AtFH5–GFP fusion protein localizes to the cell plate, a plant-specific membranous component that is assembled at the plane of cell division. Consistent with these data, loss of function of atfh5 compromises cytokinesis in the seed endosperm. Furthermore, endogenous AtFH5 transcripts accumulate in the posterior pole of the endosperm and loss of function of atfh5 perturbs proper morphogenesis of the endosperm posterior pole. Although cytokinesis in animals, yeast and plants occurs through morphologically distinct mechanisms, our study finds that formin recruitment to sites of actin assembly is a common feature of cell division among eukaryotes.

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Figure 1: AtFH5 encodes a formin protein.
Figure 2: AtFH5 (FH1–FH2–Cter) nucleates and caps actin filament in vitro.
Figure 3: Formin AtFH5–GFP is targeted to the developing cell plate.
Figure 4: AtFH5 expression is restricted to the posterior pole during endosperm development.
Figure 5: Molecular characterization of the AtFH5 locus.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique Versailles and the SALK Institute for providing the insertion mutant lines; and the RIKEN Bioresource Center for prodiving the AtFH5 full-length cDNA clones. We thank C. Dumas for hosting F. B.'s team in his Reproduction et Développement des Plantes laboratory (Lyon, France). We thank A. Chaboud and S. Corneille for sharing Gateway plasmid constructs and S. Madi for valuable technical advices. We thank F.-Y. Bouget for his help in setting up a screen to identify phragmoplast-localized GFP-tagged proteins. This work was supported by the French Génoplante II programme (M.I.). The work was sponsored by the International Research Fellowship Program of the National Science Foundation (Grant INT 0301886; J.FG.), by the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (D.G. and D.V.D.), by a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship from the European Commission (M.B.S.), by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (F.B., J.FG.) and by ATIPE from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.G. and L.B.). F.B. is part of the European Molecular Biology Organisation Young Investigator Program. We thank D. Kovar, H. Higgs and T. Pollard for helpful suggestions.

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Author notes

  1. Mathieu Ingouff

    Present address: Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Joseph Fourier, 17 rue des martyrs, F-38054, Grenoble, France

  2. Jonathan N. Fitz Gerald & Frédéric Berger

    Present address: Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117604

  3. Hélène Robert

    Present address: Institute of Biology of Leiden, Clusius Laboratory, Wassenaarseweg 64, AL 2333, Leiden, The Netherlands

  4. Mikael Blom Sørensen

    Present address: Plant Research Department, PRD-301, Risø National Laboratory, PO Box 49, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark

  5. Mathieu Ingouff and Jonathan N. Fitz Gerald: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMBO YIP team, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5667, Institut Fédératif de Recherche 128 BioSciences Lyon-Gerland, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, Lyon, F-69364, cedex 07, France

    Mathieu Ingouff, Jonathan N. Fitz Gerald, Hélène Robert, Mikael Blom Sørensen & Frédéric Berger

  2. Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Joseph Fourier, 17 rue des martyrs, Grenoble, F-38054, France

    Christophe Guérin & Laurent Blanchoin

  3. Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB-Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Gent, B-9052, Belgium

    Daniel Van Damme & Danny Geelen

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Correspondence to Laurent Blanchoin or Frédéric Berger.

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Supplementary figures S1, S2 and S3; supplementary methods (PDF 185 kb)

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Ingouff, M., Gerald, J., Guérin, C. et al. Plant formin AtFH5 is an evolutionarily conserved actin nucleator involved in cytokinesis. Nat Cell Biol 7, 374–380 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1238

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