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First published online December 21, 2005

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RhoA ploughs a furrow

During cytokinesis, an actomyosin cleavage furrow separates the dividing cells. Unidentified signals from the mitotic apparatus are thought to induce assembly of the furrow at a location that ensures both daughter cells get a full set of chromosomes when the cell divides. Now, Yukako Nishimura and Shigenobu Yonemura identify three key cleavage signals in HeLa cells: centralspindlin (a protein complex present on astral and spindle microtubules), RhoA (one of the small GTPases that regulates the actin cytoskeleton) and ECT2 (a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that regulates Rho GTPases). The authors show that RhoA accumulates at the equatorial cortex of dividing HeLa cells before furrow initiation and during cytokinesis, and that active RhoA and intact microtubules are needed for furrowing to proceed (see p. 104). By using RNAi, they demonstrate that centralspindlin recruits ECT2 to the equatorial cortex and central spindle microtubules, where it induces accumulation of RhoA. This chain of events, the authors conclude, transmits positional information from the mitotic apparatus to the cell cortex so that the cleavage furrow forms in the correct plane.

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Related articles in JCS:

Centralspindlin regulates ECT2 and RhoA accumulation at the equatorial cortex during cytokinesis

Yukako Nishimura and Shigenobu Yonemura
JCS 2006 119: 104-114. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?