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First published online 27 November 2007
doi: 10.1242/jcs.012179

Journal of Cell Science 120, 4345-4354 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
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Research Article

The Ste20-like kinase SvkA of Dictyostelium discoideum is essential for late stages of cytokinesis

Meino Rohlfs, Rajesh Arasada*, Petros Batsios, Julia Janzen and Michael Schleicher{ddagger}

Adolf-Butenandt-Institut/Zellbiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Schillerstr. 42, 80336 München, Germany

{ddagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: schleicher{at}lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

Accepted 2 October 2007

The genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum encodes ~285 kinases, which represents ~2.6% of the total genome and suggests a signaling complexity similar to that of yeasts and humans. The behavior of D. discoideum as an amoeba and during development relies heavily on fast rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton. Here, we describe the knockout phenotype of the svkA gene encoding severin kinase, a homolog of the human MST3, MST4 and YSK1 kinases. SvkA-knockout cells show drastic defects in cytokinesis, development and directed slug movement. The defect in cytokinesis is most prominent, leading to multinucleated cells sometimes with >30 nuclei. The defect arises from the frequent inability of svkA-knockout cells to maintain symmetry during formation of the cleavage furrow and to sever the last cytosolic connection. We demonstrate that GFP-SvkA is enriched at the centrosome and localizes to the midzone during the final stage of cell division. This distribution is mediated by the C-terminal half of the kinase, whereas a rescue of the phenotypic changes requires the active N-terminal kinase domain as well. The data suggest that SvkA is part of a regulatory pathway from the centrosome to the midzone, thus regulating the completion of cell division.

Key words: Severin kinase, Ste20 kinases, Cytokinesis, Actin cytoskeleton, Severin, Dictyostelium, Midbody


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