title: Cortical PAR polarity proteins promote robust cytokinesis during asymmetric cell division.
abstract: Cytokinesis, the physical division of one cell into two, is thought to be fundamentally similar in most animal cell divisions and driven by the constriction of a contractile ring positioned and controlled solely by the mitotic spindle. During asymmetric cell divisions, the core polarity machinery (partitioning defective [PAR] proteins) controls the unequal inheritance of key cell fate determinants. Here, we show that in asymmetrically dividing Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the cortical PAR proteins (including the small guanosine triphosphatase CDC-42) have an active role in regulating recruitment of a critical component of the contractile ring, filamentous actin (F-actin). We found that the cortical PAR proteins are required for the retention of anillin and septin in the anterior pole, which are cytokinesis proteins that our genetic data suggest act as inhibitors of F-actin at the contractile ring. Collectively, our results suggest that the cortical PAR proteins coordinate the establishment of cell polarity with the physical process of cytokinesis during asymmetric cell division to ensure the fidelity of daughter cell formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: Shawn N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032 Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: Yelena
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhuravlev
authors.affiliation: Institut Jacques Monod, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unites Mixtes de Recherche 7592, Universite Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.
authors.forename: Mimi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirasu-Hiza
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032 jcc2210@cumc.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Canman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016764:Cell Polarity; D048749:Cytokinesis
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins