First published online November 7, 2006
Development 133, 2304e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
ESCRT pathway to plant cytokinesis
Proteasomal degradation of poly-ubiquitylated proteins plays a crucial role
in controlling the cell cycle during development, thus ensuring that adult
tissues contain the right number of cells. Recently, an alternative pathway
for cell-cycle control, in which monoubiquitylated proteins are sorted into
lysosomes in animal cells or vacuoles in yeast cells for degradation, was
identified. Now, on p.
4679, Spitzer and colleagues report that this pathway is involved in
the development of trichomes - hair-like bristles - in Arabidopsis.
Wild-type trichomes are single polyploid cells with three to four branches.
The researchers report that the oddly shaped trichomes seen in Arabidopsis
elc mutants have multiple nuclei. This indicates that ELC - the
Arabidopsis homolog of yeast Vps23, a component of the endosomal
sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) - is involved in cytokinesis.
Other genetic and biochemical data suggest that ELC regulates cytokinesis
through a mono-ubiquitin-dependent proteinsorting pathway, possibly by
regulating the microtubule cytoskeleton, thus providing the first evidence
that the ESCRT pathway operates in plants.
Related articles in Development:
- The Arabidopsis elch mutant reveals functions of an ESCRT component in cytokinesis
- Christoph Spitzer, Swen Schellmann, Aneta Sabovljevic, Mojgan Shahriari, Channa Keshavaiah, Nicole Bechtold, Michel Herzog, Stefan Müller, Franz-Georg Hanisch, and Martin Hülskamp
Development 2006 133: 4679-4689.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
