The cleavage plane in normally dividing animal cells is closely related to the position and the direction of the mitotic apparatus (cf. Gray, 1931). A displacement of the mitotic apparatus induces a corresponding shift in the position of the furrow in seaurchin eggs (Harvey, 1935; Rappaport & Ebstein, 1965), in the grasshopper neuroblasts (Carlson, 1952; Kawamura, i960) and in amphibian eggs (W...

Coordinating cell proliferation and differentiation is essential during organogenesis. In Drosophila, the photoreceptor, pigment, and support cells of the eye are specified in an orchestrated wave as the morphogenetic furrow passes across the eye imaginal disc. Cells anterior of the furrow are not yet differentiated and remain mitotically active, while most cells in the furrow arrest at G(1) an...

How myosin II localizes to the cleavage furrow of dividing cells is largely unknown. We show here that a 283-residue protein, assembly domain (AD)1, corresponding to the AD in the tail of Dictyostelium myosin II assembles into bundles of long tubules when expressed in myosin II-null cells and localizes to the cleavage furrow of dividing cells. AD1 mutants that do not polymerize in vitro do not ...

An integral part of cell division is the separation of daughter cells via cytokinesis. There is now good evidence that the completion of cytokinesis requires coordinated membrane trafficking to deliver new membrane to the tip of the furrow and to complete the abscission. Here we have examined membrane traffic in cytokinesis and describe several novel observations. First, we show that Rab11- and...

The striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum (F.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a key pest of cucurbit crops throughout its range. A novel precision band applicator was designed to inject a solid stream of imidacloprid solution in-furrow directly over the seed during planting to reduce beetle leaf feeding on pumpkin, zucchini, and cucumber crops. In 2004 and 2005, bioassays at the cotyledon...

We review results obtained after fluorescent actin and myosin II probes were microinjected into interphase and prophase PtK2 and LLC-PK tissue culture cells to follow the changing distribution of these cytoskeletal proteins in the live cells during division. The fluorescent probes first begin to assemble into the future furrow region during mid-anaphase before any sign of initial contractions. ...

Plasma membrane ingression during cytokinesis involves both actin remodeling and vesicle-mediated membrane addition. Vesicle-based membrane delivery from the recycling endosome (RE) has an essential but ill-defined involvement in cytokinesis. In the Drosophila melanogaster early embryo, Nuf (Nuclear fallout), a Rab11 effector which is essential for RE function, is required for F-actin and membr...

Neurogenesis in Drosophila eye imaginal disc is controlled by interactions of positive and negative regulatory genes. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Atonal (Ato) plays an essential proneural function in the morphogenetic furrow to induce the formation of R8 founder neurons. Bar homeodomain proteins are required for transcriptional repression of ato in the basal undiffere...

Devoid of all known canonical actin-binding proteins, the prevalent parasite Giardia lamblia uses an alternative mechanism for cytokinesis. Unique aspects of this mechanism can potentially be leveraged for therapeutic development. Here, live-cell imaging methods were developed for Giardia to establish division kinetics and the core division machinery. Surprisingly, Giardia cytokinesis occurred ...

We have characterized a human homologue of anillin, a Drosophila actin binding protein. Like Drosophila anillin, the human protein localizes to the nucleus during interphase, the cortex following nuclear envelope breakdown, and the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis. Anillin also localizes to ectopic cleavage furrows generated between two spindles in fused PtK(1) cells. Microinjection of antian...