Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Rho-kinase controls cell shape changes during cytokinesis.

Gilles R X Hickson1, Arnaud Echard, Patrick H O'Farrell

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-2200, USA.

Current Biology : CB
|February 21, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Rho-kinase (Rok) and myosin II are crucial for animal cell elongation during cytokinesis. Depleting these proteins disrupts cell shape changes and can cause spindle defects, indicating a distinct regulatory pathway for cell elongation.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A mitotic bookmark coordinates transcription and replication in Drosophila embryos.

Nucleic acids research·2025
Same author

SiR-XActin: A Fluorescent Probe for Imaging Actin Dynamics in Live Cells.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2025
Same author

[A new player in the budding process of the AIDS virus].

Medecine sciences : M/S·2025
Same author

F-actin disassembly by the oxidoreductase MICAL1 promotes mechano-dependent VWF-GPIbα interaction in platelets.

Nature communications·2025
Same author

A mitotic bookmark coordinates transcription and replication.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Selfish mutations promote age-associated erosion of mtDNA integrity in mammals.

Nature communications·2025

Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cytokinesis Research

Background:

  • Animal cell cytokinesis involves complex cortical rearrangements coordinated with mitosis.
  • The initiation of cytokinesis and early cell shape changes remain incompletely understood.
  • Cell elongation during anaphase B precedes furrowing and is a key early event.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the molecular mechanisms coordinating cell shape changes with mitosis.
  • To identify key regulators of early cytokinesis events, specifically cell elongation.
  • To explore the role of Rho-kinase (Rok) and myosin II in initiating cytokinesis.

Main Methods:

  • RNA interference (RNAi) in Drosophila S2 cells.
  • Live video microscopy to observe cellular dynamics.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Pharmacological disruption of the actin cytoskeleton using Latrunculin A.

    • Main Results:

    • Rho-kinase (Rok) and myosin II are essential for anaphase cell elongation.
    • Rok depletion causes spindle defects due to cortical rigidity and impaired myosin II recruitment.
    • Actin cytoskeleton disruption suppresses Rok-depletion-induced spindle defects.
    • Furrowing is delayed, slowed, and sometimes distorted upon Rok depletion.
    • Other Rho pathway genes have more significant effects on furrowing than elongation.

    Conclusions:

    • Cortical changes during cell elongation are highly sensitive to Rok and myosin II.
    • A distinct regulatory pathway, involving Rok and myosin II, promotes cell elongation.
    • These findings offer insights into the coordination of cell shape and division.