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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Reconstitution of Basic Mitotic Spindles in Spherical Emulsion Droplets
Published on: August 13, 2016
Heterotrimeric G protein signaling functions with dynein to promote spindle positioning in C. elegans
Claudia Couwenbergs1, Jean-Claude Labbé, Morgan Goulding
1ETH Zurich, Institute of Biochemistry, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Proper orientation and positioning of the mitotic spindle is essential for the correct segregation of fate determinants during asymmetric cell division. Although heterotrimeric G proteins and their regulators are essential for spindle positioning in many cell types, their mechanism of action remains unclear. In this study, we show that dyrb-1, which encodes a dynein light chain, provides a functional link between heterotrimeric G protein signaling and dynein activity during spindle positioning in Caenorhabditis elegans. Embryos depleted of dyrb-1 display phenotypes similar to a weak loss of function of dynein activity, indicating that DYRB-1 is a positive regulator of dynein. We find that the depletion of dyrb-1 enhances the spindle positioning defect of weak loss of function alleles of two regulators of G protein signaling, LIN-5 and GPR-1/2, and that DYRB-1 physically associates with these two proteins. These results indicate that dynein activity functions with regulators of G protein signaling to regulate common downstream effectors during spindle positioning in the early C. elegans embryo.
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