Membrane Trafficking Components in Cytokinesis

Abstract

Cytokinesis, the last major step of cell division, is a complex multistage process involving specific rearrangement of cellular cytoskeleton and a flurry of vesicular transport activities at the cell division plane. Vesicular traffic from the exocytic pathway and the endocytic/recycling pathway, operating again after being shut down since prophase, are engaged to supply the mitotic midzone with materials that would facilitate furrowing, midbody thinning and subsequent abscission of daughter cells. Cytokinesis is spatial and temporally regulated by mitotic kinases, and involves modulation by Arf and Rab small GTPases and their effectors. The latter include vesicle targeting and tethering molecules such as motor proteins, tethering complexes and SNAREs. The process of abscission requires the ultimate engagement of endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) complexes. Although a good deal of details remains to be deciphered, cytokinesis in eukaryotes could essentially be visualized as a specialized cellular event requiring complex spatial and temporal regulated processes of membrane traffic.

Imp2, the PSTPIP homolog in fission yeast, affects sensitivity to the immunosuppressant FK506 and membrane trafficking in fission yeast

“…Notably, these membrane trafficking phenotypes as well as cell integrity defects associated with the imp2-c3 mutation were remarkably similar to those reported in the Golgi membrane trafficking mutants identified in the same chemical genetic screen, such as ypt3-i5, the mutation in the Rab11 homolog in S. pombe [12]. Cytokinesis requires highly regulated membrane vesicle trafficking activities both in plant and animal cells, and several membrane trafficking genes have attracted much attention in their role in cytokinesis [4,31]. Especially, one of the members of the Rab GTPases Rab11 plays a role in cytokinesis in various organisms by delivering Golgi/ endosomal materials to the cleavage furrow and/or dividing sites [32,33].…”

Cytokinesis in Animal Cells

“…In addition to the force generated by actomyosin ring constriction, successful cytokinesis requires extensive membrane trafficking activities (McKay and Burgess 2011;Neto et al 2011;Tang 2012). The massive increase in total surface area during furrowing requires the transport of membrane vesicles to be inserted at the cleavage site.…”

“…Studies in mammalian cells and animal model systems have implicated several components of the secretory and endocytic/recycling machineries in cytokinesis (Prekeris and Gould 2008;Neto et al 2011;Giansanti et al 2012;Tang 2012). A proteomics-based analysis of purified midbodies isolated from Chinese hamster ovary cells revealed that the largest proportion of midbody proteins had a known role in secretory and membrane trafficking; the requirement for cytokinesis of many of the homologs was confirmed by RNA interference in C. elegans (Skop et al 2004).…”

Time-lapse imaging of cleavage divisions in embryo quality assessment

“…Mitochondria provide energy required for DNA synthesis and chromosome segregation (Salazar-Roa & Malumbres 2017). The cytoskeleton, on the other hand, plays a key role in segregation of chromosomes, cytokinesis and cellular trafficking -each of them important for cell cycle progression (Tang 2012, D'Avino et al 2015, Prosser & Pelletier 2017.…”