Macropinocytosis, the internalization of extracellular fluid and material by plasma membrane ruffles, is critical for antigen presentation, cell metabolism, and signaling. Macropinosomes mature through homotypic and heterotypic fusion with endosomes and ultimately merge with lysosomes. The molecular underpinnings of this clathrin-independent endocytic pathway are largely unknown. Here, we show ...

Septins are conserved GTPases that form filaments and are required for cell division. During interphase, septin filaments associate with cellular membrane and cytoskeleton networks, yet the functional significance of these associations have, to our knowledge, remained unknown. We recently discovered that different septins, SEPT2 and SEPT11, regulate the InlB-mediated entry of Listeria monocytog...

Septins are cytoskeletal GTPases present in nonpolar heteromeric complexes that assemble in a palindromic fashion from two to eight subunits. Mammalian septins function in several fundamental cellular processes at the membrane-cytoskeleton interface including dendritic branching in neurons. Sequence homology divides the 13 mammalian septin genes into four homology groups. Experimental findings ...

The conserved NDR-kinase Dbf2 plays a critical role in cytokinesis in budding yeast. Among its cytokinesis-related substrates is the F-BAR protein Hof1. Hof1 colocalizes at the cell division site with the septin complex and, as mitotic exit progresses, moves to the actomyosin ring (AMR). Neither the function of Hof1 at the septin complex nor the mechanism by which Hof1 supports AMR constriction...

background: male infertility is a multifactorial disorder, which affects approximately 10% of couples at childbearing age with substantial clinical and social impact. genetic factors are associated with the susceptibility to spermatogenic impairment in humans. recently, sept12 is reported as a critical gene for spermatogenesis. this gene encodes a testis specific member of septin proteins, a fa...

Myelin sheaths present two distinct domains: compacted myelin spirals and flanking non-compacted cytoplasmic channels, where lipid and protein segregation is established by unknown mechanisms. Septins, a conserved family of membrane and cytoskeletal interacting GTPases, form intracellular diffusion barriers during cell division and neurite extension and are expressed in myelinating cells. Septi...

John Chant toward the bud orient the nucleus and spindle for mitosis Figure 1 illustrates the key point that, once a yeast cell has initiated a bud early in the cell cycle, it has Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 committed to its cleavage plane. The molecular manifestation of commitment is the formation of a ring of septin proteins (Cdc3p, Cdc10p, Cdc11p, and Cdc12p) be-For one cell to divide int...