Dynamin 2 associates with microtubules at mitosis and regulates cell cycle progression

Dynamin, a ~100 kDa large GTPase, is known as a key player for membrane traffic. Recent evidence shows that dynamin also regulates the dynamic instability of microtubules by a mechanism independent of membrane traffic. As microtubules are highly dynamic during mitosis, we investigated whether the regulation of microtubules by dynamin is essential for cell cycle progression. Dynamin 2 intensely localized at the mitotic spindle, and the localization depended on its proline-rich domain (PRD), which is required for microtubule association. The deletion of PRD resulted in the impairment of cytokinesis, whereby the mutant had less effect on endocytosis. Interestingly, dominant-negative dynamin (K44A), which blocks membrane traffic but has no effect on microtubules, also blocked cytokinesis. On the other hand, the deletion of the middle domain, which binds to γ-tubulin, impaired the entry into mitosis. As both deletion mutants had no significant effect on endocytosis, dynamin 2 may participate in cell cycle progression by regulating the microtubules. These data suggest that dynamin may play a key role for cell cycle progression by two distinct pathways, membrane traffic and cytoskeleton.