The London Research Institute hosts a number of conferences throughout the year and has extensive seminar schedules as part of its education programme.
Highlighted Paper: Targeting of the RhoGEF Ect2 to the Equatorial Membrane Controls Cleavage Furrow Formation during Cytokinesis.
Submitted by hawkes07 on Fri, 06/01/2012 - 16:41
The Cell Division and Aneuploidy Laboratory headed by Mark Petronczki, published the highlighted article in Developemtal Cell recently.
Su KC, Takaki T, Petronczki M. Targeting of the RhoGEF Ect2 to the Equatorial Membrane Controls Cleavage Furrow Formation during Cytokinesis.Dev Cell. 2011 Dec 13;21(6):1104-15. (Abstract) (Mark Petronczki).
Every second several hundred thousand cells in our body duplicate themselves through a process known as cell division. The accurate partitioning of all 46 chromosomes during cell division is essential for cellular health and prevents diseases, such as cancer.
Cytokinesis is the final step of cell division that leads to the birth of new daughter cells. It is initiated by a purse string-like contraction of the cell envelope, also called plasma membrane, in the centre of a dividing cell. This contraction is achieved by proteinaceous network of filaments and motors. A protein called RhoA has been known to act as a switch to control the formation of the contractile network.
Research conducted in the Cell Division Laboratory headed by Mark Petronczki has now discovered how a protein called Ect2 is targeted to the cell envelope to turn on RhoA and initiate cytokinesis (Su et al., Dev. Cell 2011). A network of filaments known as microtubules directs Ect2’s accumulation at the membrane to the central waistline of the cells. Another switch-like molecule, called CDK1, must be inactivated for Ect2 to move to the membrane. Together these mechanisms ensure that the signal for cell division is delivered to the envelope at the right place and at the right time.
