title: Plastin increases cortical connectivity to facilitate robust polarization and timely cytokinesis.
abstract: The cell cortex is essential to maintain animal cell shape, and contractile forces generated within it by nonmuscle myosin II (NMY-2) drive cellular morphogenetic processes such as cytokinesis. The role of actin cross-linking proteins in cortical dynamics is still incompletely understood. Here, we show that the evolutionarily conserved actin bundling/cross-linking protein plastin is instrumental for the generation of potent cortical actomyosin contractility in theCaenorhabditis eleganszygote. PLST-1 was enriched in contractile structures and was required for effective coalescence of NMY-2 filaments into large contractile foci and for long-range coordinated contractility in the cortex. In the absence of PLST-1, polarization was compromised, cytokinesis was delayed or failed, and 50% of embryos died during development. Moreover, mathematical modeling showed that an optimal amount of bundling agents enhanced the ability of a network to contract. We propose that by increasing the connectivity of the F-actin meshwork, plastin enables the cortex to generate stronger and more coordinated forces to accomplish cellular morphogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wei Yung
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.
authors.forename: Hui Ting
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.|Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2005-7704
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology, and Research), Singapore 138673, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jantana
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4134-2248
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wongsantichon
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.|Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, 1 Research Link, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Singapore.|Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3230-1062
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Toyama
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology, and Research), Singapore 138673, Singapore.|Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: François
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8141-5288
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nédélec
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117583, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1374-5007
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zaidel-Bar
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000205:Actomyosin / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology; D016764:Cell Polarity; D048430:Cell Shape; D048749:Cytokinesis; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009024:Morphogenesis; D013997:Time Factors; D015053:Zygote / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C026742:plastin; D000205:Actomyosin