Biochemistry and Cytology of Cytokinesis

描述（由申请人提供）：细胞质分裂是一个细胞分裂成两个子细胞的过程。当有丝分裂完成时，分裂沟聚集在细胞中间，分裂沟收缩，将细胞分成两个相等的部分。从基本细胞生物学的角度来看，细胞质分裂是令人着迷的，因为它需要细胞骨架和膜系统的协调活动。这一过程也可能成为抗癌治疗的潜在目标。我们感兴趣的是两个问题：细胞是如何将卵裂沟精确地定位在中间的，以及卵裂沟是如何组装的？我们将结合生物化学，显微镜和药物的添加来解决这些问题。我们将继续对两种有趣的裂解沟蛋白进行生化分析，一种是我们发现的anillin，另一种是septin，一种我们发现可以组装成细丝的GTPase蛋白家族。我们想知道这些蛋白质在细胞中做什么以及它们是如何相互影响的。我们将研究新膜是如何利用蛙卵提取物靶向卵裂沟的，以及氨苄素在这一过程中的作用。在细胞中心形成沟壑依赖于提供位置信息的微管。我们将探讨与细胞分裂相关的微管是如何在细胞中组织的，以及它们利用什么机制将苯胺素和肌球蛋白II靶向到细胞中心并在那里建立沟壑。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cytokinesis is the process by which a cell divides into two daughters. When mitosis is complete, a cleavage furrow assembles in the middle of the cell and this furrow constricts to divide the cell into two equal parts. Cytokinesis is fascinating from a basic cell biology perspective, since it requires concerted activity of the cytoskeleton and membrane systems of the cell. It is also a process that could potentially be targeted in anti-cancer therapy. We are interested in two questions: how does the cell position the cleavage furrow exactly in its middle and how does the furrow assemble? We will address these by a combination of biochemistry, microscopy and addition of drugs. We will continue our biochemical analysis of two interesting cleavage furrow proteins, anillin, which we discovered, and septins, a family of GTPase proteins that we showed could assemble into filaments. We want to know what these proteins do in the cell and how they influence each other. We will study how new membrane is targeted to the cleavage furrow using extracts from frog eggs and the role of anillin in this process. Building a furrow at the center of the cell depends on microtubules that provide the positional information. We will probe how the microtubules associated with cytokinesis are organized in the cell and what mechanisms they use to target anillin and myosin II to the center of the cell to build a furrow there.