ADP-ribosylation factor arf6p may function as a molecular switch of new end take off in fission yeast.
Small GTPases act as molecular switches in a wide variety of cellular processes. In fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the directions of cell growth change from a monopolar manner to a bipolar manner, which is known as 'New End Take Off' (NETO). Here I report the identification of a gene, arf6(+), encoding an ADP-ribosylation factor small GTPase, that may be essential for NETO. arf6Delta cells completely fail to undergo NETO. arf6p localizes at both cell ends and presumptive septa in a cell-cycle dependent manner. And its polarized localization is not dependent on microtubules, actin cytoskeletons and some NETO factors (bud6p, for3p, tea1p, tea3p, and tea4p). Notably, overexpression of a fast GDP/GTP-cycling mutant of arf6p can advance the timing of NETO. These findings suggest that arf6p functions as a molecular switch for the activation of NETO in fission yeast.
Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan.
Atsushi
A
Fujita
D000089982:ADP-Ribosylation Factor 6; D020727:ADP-Ribosylation Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D049108:Cell Enlargement; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*
D000089982:ADP-Ribosylation Factor 6; D020727:ADP-Ribosylation Factors; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins