spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online June 25, 2007
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.03464

Journal of Cell Science 120, 2205-2213 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Castagnetti, S.
Right arrow Articles by Nurse, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Castagnetti, S.
Right arrow Articles by Nurse, P.

Research Article

Microtubules offset growth site from the cell centre in fission yeast

Stefania Castagnetti1,*, Béla Novák1,2 and Paul Nurse1,3

1 Cancer Research UK, Cell Cycle Lab, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PX, UK
2 Oxford Centre for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
3 Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: S.Castagnetti{at}cancer.org.uk)

Accepted 23 April 2007

The design principles that underlie cellular morphogenetic mechanisms are central to understanding the generation of cell form. We have investigated the constraints governing the formation and positioning of new growth zones in the fission yeast cell and have shown that establishment of a new axis of polarity is independent of microtubules and that in the absence of microtubules a new growth zone is activated near the nucleus in the middle of the cell. Activation of a new growth zone can occur at any stage of the cell cycle as long as the nucleus is a sufficient distance away from previously growing ends. The positioning of growth zones is regulated by the polarity marker Tea1 delivered by microtubules; cells with short microtubules locate the growth zone near the region where the microtubules terminate. We propose a model for the activation of new growth zones comprising a long-range laterally inhibitory component and a self-activating positive local component that is delivered to cell ends by Tea1 and the microtubules. The principle of this symmetry-breaking design may also apply to the morphogenesis of other cells.

Key words: Microtubules, Fission yeast, Nucleus, Cell polarity, Lateral inhibition






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007