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First published online 22 January 2008
doi: 10.1242/jcs.015172

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Dynein-dependent nuclear dynamics affect morphogenesis in Candida albicans by means of the Bub2p spindle checkpoint

¹ Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 6-160 Jackson Hall, 321 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
² Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 6-160 Jackson Hall, 321 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: jberman{at}umn.edu)

Accepted 15 November 2007

Candida albicans, the most prevalent fungal pathogen of humans, grows with multiple morphologies. The dynamics of nuclear movement are similar in wild-type yeast and pseudohyphae: nuclei divide across the bud neck. By contrast, in hyphae, nuclei migrate 10-20 µm into the growing germ tube before dividing. We analyzed the role of the dynein-dynactin complex in hyphal and yeast cells using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. Cells lacking the heavy chain of cytoplasmic dynein or the p150^Glued subunit of dynactin were defective in the position and orientation of the spindle. Hyphal cells often failed to deliver a nucleus to the daughter cell, resulting in defects in morphogenesis. Under yeast growth conditions, cultures included a mixture of yeast and pseudohyphal-like cells that exhibited distinctive defects in nuclear dynamics: in yeast, nuclei divided within the mother cell, and the spindle position checkpoint protein Bub2p ensured the delivery of the daughter nucleus to the daughter cell before cytokinesis; in pseudohyphal-like cells, pre-mitotic nuclei migrated into the daughter and no checkpoint ensured return of a nucleus to the mother cell before cytokinesis. Analysis of double mutants indicated that Bub2p also mediated the pre-anaphase arrest and polarization of pseudohyphal-like cells. Thus, Bub2p has two distinct roles in C. albicans cells lacking dynein: it mediates pre-anaphase arrest and it coordinates spindle disassembly with mitotic exit.

Key words: Candida albicans, Cell cycle, Cytoplasmic dynein, Morphogenesis, Spindle checkpoints