Cytokinesis articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Completion of cell division requires severing both the microtubules and the plasma membrane that connects daughter cells. Here, the authors show that branched actin regulates ESCRT localization to promote the microtubule cut, which happens before membrane scission.

    • Tamara Advedissian
    • , Stéphane Frémont
    •  & Arnaud Echard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytokinetic ring constriction during cell division requires actin but curiously is independent of myosin in many organisms. Here, the authors show that anillin, a protein enriched in the contractile ring, is a non-motor actin crosslinker that generates contractile force in lieu of a molecular motor.

    • Ondřej Kučera
    • , Valerie Siahaan
    •  & Zdenek Lansky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During cell division, the actin cytoskeletal network at both the equatorial contractile ring and cell cortex are known to play a role, but the regulation of γ-actin during cytokinesis is less well understood. Here, the authors show that recruitment of β-actin to the contractile ring and loss of γ-actin from the cell poles is required for completion of cell division.

    • Anan Chen
    • , Luisa Ulloa Severino
    •  & Andrew Wilde

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The midbody is an organelle present at the bridge connecting two cells at the end of cell division. Here, the authors use mass spectrometry to define the midbody interactome and uncover a role for PP1 phosphatases in microtubule dynamics and regulation of cytokinesis.

    • Luisa Capalbo
    • , Zuni I. Bassi
    •  & Pier Paolo D’Avino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cells divide within a given size range and can scale across differing cell sizes but mechanisms and function remain unclear. Here the authors show, despite the current dogma of fission yeast maintaining constant width, some fission yeast can scale their width and length, impacting the positioning of the cell division site.

    • Ying Gu
    •  & Snezhana Oliferenko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Mitotic Exit Network (MEN) promotes mitotic exit and cytokinesis but if and how MEN independently controls these two processes is unclear. Here, the authors report that MEN displaces septins from the cell division site to promote actomyosin ring constriction, independently of MEN control of mitotic exit.

    • Davide Tamborrini
    • , Maria Angeles Juanes
    •  & Simonetta Piatti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Female meiotic divisions are asymmetric with the formation of large oocytes and small polar bodies, thought to result from cortical spindle placement before anaphase. The authors find that Cdk1 inactivation triggers F-actin dependent post-anaphase spindle migration, resulting in cortical protrusion.

    • Zhe Wei
    • , Jessica Greaney
    •  & Hayden A. Homer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian clock regulates hepatic gene expression and functions. Here Chao et al. show that alteration of circadian clock genes by Period deletion induces polyploidy in hepatocytes due to impaired regulation of Erk signaling by mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 1.

    • Hsu-Wen Chao
    • , Masao Doi
    •  & Hitoshi Okamura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytokinesis relies on central spindle organization and provides a spatial landmark for lumen formation. Here, the authors show that intraflagellar transport proteins are required for the localization of the cytokinetic regulator Aurora B and subsequent cleavage furrow ingression and lumen positioning.

    • Nicolas Taulet
    • , Benjamin Vitre
    •  & Benedicte Delaval

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In Streptococcus pneumoniae, competence for genetic transformation is accompanied by a pause in growth. Here, Bergé et al. show that this pause is linked to the cell cycle via at least two pathways that impair peptidoglycan synthesis and preserve genomic integrity during transformation.

    • Matthieu J. Bergé
    • , Chryslène Mercy
    •  & Nathalie Campo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Asymmetric cell division can generate daughter cells with cell size asymmetry, but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Here the authors show that spatiotemporally controlled Myosin flows together with spindle asymmetry and positioning control cleavage furrow position and cortical expansion to establish physical asymmetry.

    • Chantal Roubinet
    • , Anna Tsankova
    •  & Clemens Cabernard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fission yeast cytokinetic ring assembles by Search-Capture-Pull-Release from precursor nodes that include formin Cdc12 and myosin Myo2. The authors reconstitute Search-Capture-Pull in vitro and find that Myo2 pulling on Cdc12-associated actin filaments mechano-inhibits Cdc12-mediated assembly, which enables proper ring assembly in vivo.

    • Dennis Zimmermann
    • , Kaitlin E. Homa
    •  & David R. Kovar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The actin-like protein FtsA and the tubulin-like protein FtsZ play crucial roles during cell division in most bacteria. Here, the authors show that FtsA forms minirings on lipid monolayers, and present evidence supporting that its oligomeric state modulates the bundling of FtsZ protofilaments.

    • Marcin Krupka
    • , Veronica W. Rowlett
    •  & William Margolin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytokinetic abscission relies on the local constriction after cytoskeleton disassembly, but it is not known how the actin filaments are disassembled. Here, the authors show that the redox enzyme MICAL1 is recruited by Rab35 and induces oxidation-mediated depolymerization of actin, which is required to recruit ESCRT-III and complete abscission.

    • Stéphane Frémont
    • , Hussein Hammich
    •  & Arnaud Echard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The tumour suppressor p120-catenin (p120) controls cadherin-based adhesion. Here, the authors demonstrate that p120 regulates cytokinesis through binding to the centralspindlin component MKLP1 and controls RhoA activity. Loss of p120 in cancer induces multinucleation and chromosomal instability, independent of cell-cell adhesion.

    • Robert A.H. van de Ven
    • , Jolien S. de Groot
    •  & Patrick W.B. Derksen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Aurora B abscission checkpoint is activated when DNA is retained in the cleavage furrow on completion of anaphase. Here the authors show that PKCɛ directly phosphorylates Aurora B triggering a switch in Aurora B substrate specificity to elicit Borealin phosphorylation and abscission checkpoint exit.

    • Tanya Pike
    • , Nicola Brownlow
    •  & Peter J. Parker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The cytokinetic ring consists of actin and myosin, but their organisation prior to and during constriction has not been observed. Here the authors observe that mammalian and yeast cells organise their rings differently, with mammalian cells forming a periodic pattern of myosin clusters and yeast rotating myosin clusters during constriction.

    • Viktoria Wollrab
    • , Raghavan Thiagarajan
    •  & Daniel Riveline

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In asymmetrically dividing cells, both spindle-dependent and spindle-independent cleavage furrow positioning pathways are involved in cytokinesis. Here the authors find that Survivin and the mitotic spindle are required to stabilize the position of the cleavage furrow and to complete cytokinesis in Drosophilaneuroblasts.

    • Michaela Roth
    • , Chantal Roubinet
    •  & Clemens Cabernard

  • Article |

    The pyruvate kinase type M2 (PKM2) has a well-established role in cancer due to its functions in regulating glucose metabolism, G1-S transition and mitotic checkpoint. Here the authors identified a novel role for PKM2 in regulating cytokinesis in cancer cells through the phosphorylation of the myosin light chain 2 at the contractile ring.

    • Yuhui Jiang
    • , Yugang Wang
    •  & Zhimin Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    EzrA regulates the polymerization of FtsZ, a tubulin-like protein and main component of the Z-ring, which drives cell division in bacteria. Here the authors describe the crystal structure of EzrA and demonstrate that it shares structural and functional properties with eukaryotic spectrins.

    • Robert M. Cleverley
    • , Jeffrey R. Barrett
    •  & Richard J. Lewis

  • Article |

    The peptidoglycan hydrolase PcsB is required for cell wall splitting during cell division in Streptococci. Bartual et al.show that PcsB adopts an autoinhibited dimeric structure, and demonstrate the muralytic activity of the uninhibited catalytic domain.

    • Sergio G. Bartual
    • , Daniel Straume
    •  & Juan A. Hermoso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plant cell division is driven by the expansion of the phragmoplast, a characteristic structure that forms in the middle of the plant cell during cytokinesis. Murata et al. use genetic and cell imaging approaches to clarify the microtubule behaviour that leads to phragmoplast expansion.

    • Takashi Murata
    • , Toshio Sano
    •  & Mitsuyasu Hasebe

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