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Plastin increases cortical connectivity to facilitate robust polarization and timely cytokinesis.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Ding, Wei Yung 
Ong, Hui Ting 
Wongsantichon, Jantana  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4134-2248

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 the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote. 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.

Description

Keywords

Actins, Actomyosin, Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Cell Polarity, Cell Shape, Cytokinesis, Membrane Glycoproteins, Microfilament Proteins, Morphogenesis, Time Factors, Zygote

Journal Title

J Cell Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0021-9525
1540-8140

Volume Title

216

Publisher

Rockefeller University Press