A novel role for clathrin in cytokinesis.
Using clathrin-minus Dictyostelium cells, we identified a novel requirement for clathrin during cytokinesis. In suspension culture, clathrin-minus cells failed to divide and became large and multinucleate. This cytokinesis deficiency was not attributable to a pleiotropic effect on the actomyosin cytoskeleton, since other cellular events driven by myosin II (e.g., cortical contraction and capping of concanavalin A receptors) remained intact in clathrin-minus cells. Examination of cells expressing myosin II tagged with green fluorescent protein showed that clathrin-minus cells failed to assemble myosin II into a functional contractile ring. This inability to localize myosin II to a particular location was specific for cytokinesis, since clathrin-minus cells moving across a substrate localized myosin II properly to their posterior cortexes. These results demonstrate that clathrin is essential for construction of a functional contractile ring during cell division.
Niswonger
M L
ML
Department of Cell Biology, Box 3709, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
O'Halloran
T J
TJ
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology*; D002966:Clathrin / Q000502:physiology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology; D004023:Dictyostelium; D009218:Myosins / Q000502:physiology
D002966:Clathrin; D009218:Myosins