Cytokinesis and the contractile ring in fission yeast: towards a systems-level understanding.
Cytokinesis, the final stage of the cell division cycle, requires the proper placement, assembly and contraction of an actomyosin-based contractile ring. Conserved sets of cytokinesis proteins and pathways have now been identified and characterized functionally. Additionally, fluorescent protein fusion technology enables quantitative high-resolution imaging of protein dynamics in living cells. For these reasons, the study of cytokinesis is now ripe for quantitative, systems-level approaches. Here, we review our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of contractile ring dynamics in the model organism Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast), focusing on recent examples that illustrate a synergistic integration of quantitative experimental data with computational modeling. A picture of a highly dynamic and integrated system consisting of overlapping networks is beginning to emerge, the detailed nature of which remains to be elucidated.
Bathe
Mark
M
Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. mark.bathe@mit.edu <mark.bathe@mit.edu>
Chang
Fred
F
D000199:Actins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003285:Contractile Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D048749:Cytokinesis; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000502:physiology*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
D000199:Actins; D003285:Contractile Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins