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PMID: 25799060 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Cell-sized spherical confinement induces the spontaneous formation of contractile actomyosin rings in vitro.

Nature cell biology ·Vol. 17 ·No. 4 ·2015-04-00 ·Pages 480-9

Miyazaki M, Chiba M, Eguchi H, Ohki T, Ishiwata S

Abstract

During cell division, many animal cells transform into a spherical shape and assemble a contractile ring composed of actin filaments and myosin motors at the equator to separate the cell body into two. Although actomyosin regulatory proteins are spatio-temporally controlled during cytokinesis, the direct contribution of cell shape and actomyosin activity to the contractile ring assembly remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated in vitro that actin polymerization inside cell-sized spherical droplets induced the spontaneous formation of single ring-shaped actin bundles in the presence of bundling factors. Despite a lack of spatial regulatory signals, the rings always assembled at the equator to minimize the elastic energy of the bundles. Myosin promoted ring formation by the dynamic remodelling of actin networks, and an increase in the effective concentration of myosin triggered ring contraction. These results will help us understand how animal cells coordinate cell shape and actomyosin activities to direct cytokinesis.

MeSH Terms
Actin Cytoskeleton/metabolism Actins/metabolism Actomyosin/metabolism Animals Cell Division/physiology Cell Shape/physiology Cytokinesis/physiology Myosin Type II/metabolism Myosin Type V/metabolism
Chemicals
Actins Actomyosin Myosin Type II Myosin Type V
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Miyazaki Makito
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Chiba Masataka
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Eguchi Hiroki
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Ohki Takashi
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Ishiwata Shin'ichi
1] Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 169-8555, Japan [2] Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WABIOS), 11 Biopolis Way, #05-01/02 Helios Singapore 138667, Singapore.
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Article Info
Journal
Nature cell biology
Abbr.
Nat Cell Biol
ISSN
1476-4679
DOI
10.1038/ncb3142
Published
2015-04-00
Epub
2015-00-23
Pages
480-9
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
100890575
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/ncb3142 View journal details
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