A cytoplasmic factor and a cortical factor participating in cleavage furrow formation had been previously found in Cynops eggs (Sawai, 1972). These were investigated in the present study in Ambystoma and Xenopus eggs, by the method of cytoplasmic or cortical transplantation. Results were practically similar to those previously obtained with Cynops, indicating that in all the species of eggs dur...

RhoA controls cleavage furrow formation during cell division, but whether RhoA suffices to orchestrate spatiotemporal dynamics of furrow formation is unknown. In this issue, Wagner and Goltzer (2016. J. Cell Biol http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201603025) show that RhoA activity can induce furrow formation in all cell cortex positions and cell cycle phases.

After publication of the paper, the authors discovered an error in figure preparation. In Fig. 3 B of the original manuscript, the authors used the same mlc-11 GFP channel kymograph in both the mlc1-11 (left) and iqg1Δ (right) panels. The authors have provided the corrected image and the affected legends (Fig. 3 and Video 2). This error in figure preparation does not impact the conclusions of t...

We addressed the evolutionary trace of hetero-oligomer interfaces by comparing the structures of paralogous proteins; one of them is a monomer or homo-oligomer and the other is a hetero-oligomer. We found different trends in amino acid conservation pattern and hydrophobicity between homo-oligomer and hetero-oligomer. The degree of amino acid conservation in the interface of homo-oligomer has no...

Changing patterns of actin localization have been studied on a light microscopic level by means of fluorescently labeled heavy meromyosin. The cellular distribution of actin is characterized by four major patterns, each of which corresponds to a particular phase of cell division. Long actin fibers are a prominent feature of the interphase cell. They disappear as the cell rounds up for mitosis a...

The question of how the site for division of the cytoplasm is determined at the end of mitosis has been studied for over a century, and it remains an active, controversial and fascinating problem in cell biology. This problem draws on the use of several model cell types, with the goal of understanding and identifying how the cell cycle regulates signals between the mitotic apparatus and the cel...

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein by beta-secretase generates C99, which subsequently is cleaved by gamma-secretase, yielding the amyloid beta peptide (A beta). This gamma-cleavage occurs within the transmembrane domain (TMD) of C99 and is similar to the intramembrane cleavage of Notch. However, Notch and C99 differ in their site of intramembrane cleavage. The main gamma-c...

Two of 10 mug/ml cytochalasin B (CB) caused retraction of the first cleavage furrow in Triturus eggs, a spreading of the unpigmented surface from the furrow region and a flattening of the whole egg. CB appears to act against the contractility of the microfilamentous band at mid-cleavage so as to relax the furrow and also to weaken unpigmented surface to allow the egg to flatten. Uncleaved eggs ...