Mitotic rounding alters cell geometry to ensure efficient bipolar spindle formation

Quantitative comparison of a human cancer cell surface proteome between interphase and mitosis

The cell surface is the cellular compartment responsible for communication with the environment. The interior of mammalian cells undergoes dramatic reorganization when cells enter mitosis. These changes are triggered by activation of the CDK1 kinase and have been studied extensively. In contrast, very little is known of the cell surface changes during cell division. We undertook a quantitative proteomic comparison of cell surface-exposed proteins in human cancer cells that were tightly synchronized in mitosis or interphase. Six hundred and twenty-eight surface and surface-associated proteins in HeLa cells were identified; of these, 27 were significantly enriched at the cell surface in mitosis and 37 in interphase. Using imaging techniques, we confirmed the mitosis-selective cell surface localization of protocadherin PCDH7, a member of a family with anti-adhesive roles in embryos. We show that PCDH7 is required for development of full mitotic rounding pressure at the onset of mitosis. Our analysis provided basic information on how cell cycle progression affects the cell surface. It also provides potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers for anti-mitotic cancer chemotherapy.

In vivo imaging of Nematostella vectensis embryogenesis and late development using fluorescent probes

BACKGROUND

Cnidarians are the closest living relatives to bilaterians and have been instrumental to studying the evolution of bilaterian properties. The cnidarian model, Nematostella vectensis, is a unique system in which embryology and regeneration are both studied, making it an ideal candidate to develop in vivo imaging techniques. Live imaging is the most direct way for quantitative and qualitative assessment of biological phenomena. Actin and tubulin are cytoskeletal proteins universally important for regulating many embryological processes but so far studies in Nematostella primarily focused on the localization of these proteins in fixed embryos.

RESULTS

We used fluorescent probes expressed in vivo to investigate the dynamics of Nematostella development. Lifeact-mTurquoise2, a fluorescent cyan F-actin probe, can be visualized within microvilli along the cellular surface throughout embryonic development and is stable for two months after injection. Co-expression of Lifeact-mTurquoise2 with End-Binding protein1 (EB1) fused to mVenus or tdTomato-NLS allows for the visualization of cell-cycle properties in real time. Utilizing fluorescent probes in vivo helped to identify a concentrated 'flash' of Lifeact-mTurquoise2 around the nucleus, immediately prior to cytokinesis in developing embryos. Moreover, Lifeact-mTurquoise2 expression in adult animals allowed the identification of various cell types as well as cellular boundaries.

CONCLUSION

The methods developed in this manuscript provide an alternative protocol to investigate Nematostella development through in vivo cellular analysis. This study is the first to utilize the highly photo-stable florescent protein mTurquoise2 as a marker for live imaging. Finally, we present a clear methodology for the visualization of minute temporal events during cnidarian development.

DEPDC1B coordinates de-adhesion events and cell-cycle progression at mitosis

Cells entering mitosis become rounded, lose attachment to the substrate, and increase their cortical rigidity. Pivotal to these events is the dismantling of focal adhesions (FAs). How mitotic reshaping is linked to commitment to divide is unclear. Here, we show that DEPDC1B, a protein that accumulates in G2, coordinates de-adhesion events and cell-cycle progression at mitosis. DEPDC1B functions as an inhibitor of a RhoA-based signaling complex, which assembles on the FA-associated protein tyrosine phosphatase, receptor type, F (PTPRF) and mediates the integrity of FAs. By competing with RhoA for the interaction with PTPRF, DEPDC1B promotes the dismantling of FAs, which is necessary for the morphological changes preceding mitosis. The circuitry is relevant in whole organisms, as shown by the control exerted by the DEPDC1B/RhoA/PTPRF axis on mitotic dynamics during zebrafish development. Our results uncover an adhesion-dependent signaling mechanism that coordinates adhesion events with the control of cell-cycle progression.

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DEPDC1B is a cell-cycle gene involved in the transition from G2 phase to mitosis

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Persistent adhesion at G2 phase delays CycB/CDK1 activation and G2/M transition

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DEPDC1B controls RhoA/ROCK-dependent adhesion dynamics at G2 phase

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DEPDC1B inhibits RhoA activation by displacing it from the PTPRF/GEF-H1 complex

Phosphoinositides: Lipids with informative heads and mastermind functions in cell division

Phosphoinositides are low abundant but essential phospholipids in eukaryotic cells and refer to phosphatidylinositol and its seven polyphospho-derivatives. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge on phosphoinositides in multiple aspects of cell division in animal cells, including mitotic cell rounding, longitudinal cell elongation, cytokinesis furrow ingression, intercellular bridge abscission and post-cytokinesis events. PtdIns(4,5)P₂production plays critical roles in spindle orientation, mitotic cell shape and bridge stability after furrow ingression by recruiting force generator complexes and numerous cytoskeleton binding proteins. Later, PtdIns(4,5)P₂hydrolysis and PtdIns3P production are essential for normal cytokinesis abscission. Finally, emerging functions of PtdIns3P and likely PtdIns(4,5)P₂have recently been reported for midbody remnant clearance after abscission. We describe how the multiple functions of phosphoinositides in cell division reflect their distinct roles in local recruitment of protein complexes, membrane traffic and cytoskeleton remodeling. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Phosphoinositides.

Characterization of ring-like F-actin structure as a mechanical partner for spindle positioning in mitosis

Proper spindle positioning and orientation are essential for accurate mitosis which requires dynamic interactions between microtubule and actin filament (F-actin). Although mounting evidence demonstrates the role of F-actin in cortical cytoskeleton dynamics, it remains elusive as to the structure and function of F-actin-based networks in spindle geometry. Here we showed a ring-like F-actin structure surrounding the mitotic spindle which forms since metaphase and maintains in MG132-arrested metaphase HeLa cells. This cytoplasmic F-actin structure is relatively isotropic and less dynamic. Our computational modeling of spindle position process suggests a possible mechanism by which the ring-like F-actin structure can regulate astral microtubule dynamics and thus mitotic spindle orientation. We further demonstrated that inhibiting Plk1, Mps1 or Myosin, and disruption of microtubules or F-actin polymerization perturbs the formation of the ring-like F-actin structure and alters spindle position and symmetric division. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized but important link between mitotic spindle and ring-like F-actin network in accurate mitosis and enables the development of a method to theoretically illustrate the relationship between mitotic spindle and cytoplasmic F-actin.

Rap1-dependent pathways coordinate cytokinesis in Dictyostelium

Dictyostelium Rap1 is dynamically activated during cytokinesis and drives cytokinesis progression by coordinating the three major cytoskeletal components: microtubules, actin, and myosin II. Importantly, mutated forms of Rap also affect cytokinesis in other organisms, suggesting a conserved role for Rap in cell division.

Cytokinesis is the final step of mitosis when a mother cell is separated into two daughter cells. Major cytoskeletal changes are essential for cytokinesis; it is, however, not well understood how the microtubules and actomyosin cytoskeleton are exactly regulated in time and space. In this paper, we show that during the early stages of cytokinesis, in rounded-up Dictyostelium discoideum cells, the small G-protein Rap1 is activated uniformly at the cell cortex. When cells begin to elongate, active Rap1 becomes restricted from the furrow region, where the myosin contractile ring is subsequently formed. In the final stages of cytokinesis, active Rap1 is only present at the cell poles. Mutant cells with decreased Rap1 activation at the poles showed strongly decreased growth rates. Hyperactivation of Rap1 results in severe growth delays and defective spindle formation in adherent cells and cell death in suspension. Furthermore, Rap mutants show aberrant regulation of the actomyosin cytoskeleton, resulting in extended furrow ingression times and asymmetrical cell division. We propose that Rap1 drives cytokinesis progression by coordinating the three major cytoskeletal components: microtubules, actin, and myosin II. Importantly, mutated forms of Rap also affect cytokinesis in other organisms, suggesting a conserved role for Rap in cell division.

Quantification of surface tension and internal pressure generated by single mitotic cells

During mitosis, adherent cells round up, by increasing the tension of the contractile actomyosin cortex while increasing the internal hydrostatic pressure. In the simple scenario of a liquid cell interior, the surface tension is related to the local curvature and the hydrostatic pressure difference by Laplace's law. However, verification of this scenario for cells requires accurate measurements of cell shape. Here, we use wedged micro-cantilevers to uniaxially confine single cells and determine confinement forces while concurrently determining cell shape using confocal microscopy. We fit experimentally measured confined cell shapes to shapes obeying Laplace's law with uniform surface tension and find quantitative agreement. Geometrical parameters derived from fitting the cell shape, and the measured force were used to calculate hydrostatic pressure excess and surface tension of cells. We find that HeLa cells increase their internal hydrostatic pressure excess and surface tension from ≈ 40 Pa and 0.2 mNm(-1) during interphase to ≈ 400 Pa and 1.6 mNm(-1) during metaphase. The method introduced provides a means to determine internal pressure excess and surface tension of rounded cells accurately and with minimal cellular perturbation, and should be applicable to characterize the mechanical properties of various cellular systems.

Rolled-up functionalized nanomembranes as three-dimensional cavities for single cell studies

We use micropatterning and strain engineering to encapsulate single living mammalian cells into transparent tubular architectures consisting of three-dimensional (3D) rolled-up nanomembranes. By using optical microscopy, we demonstrate that these structures are suitable for the scrutiny of cellular dynamics within confined 3D-microenvironments. We show that spatial confinement of mitotic mammalian cells inside tubular architectures can perturb metaphase plate formation, delay mitotic progression, and cause chromosomal instability in both a transformed and nontransformed human cell line. These findings could provide important clues into how spatial constraints dictate cellular behavior and function.

Buzz Baum: The art of cell shape

Baum studies how cell shape affects tissue development, homeostasis, and cancer.

Force on spindle microtubule minus ends moves chromosomes

After the loss of continuous spindle microtubule attachment to the spindle pole, a previously undescribed mechanism of chromosome transport, powered by dynein pulling on minus ends of severed microtubules, repairs spindle architecture and integrity.

The spindle is a dynamic self-assembling machine that coordinates mitosis. The spindle’s function depends on its ability to organize microtubules into poles and maintain pole structure despite mechanical challenges and component turnover. Although we know that dynein and NuMA mediate pole formation, our understanding of the forces dynamically maintaining poles is limited: we do not know where and how quickly they act or their strength and structural impact. Using laser ablation to cut spindle microtubules, we identify a force that rapidly and robustly pulls severed microtubules and chromosomes poleward, overpowering opposing forces and repairing spindle architecture. Molecular imaging and biophysical analysis suggest that transport is powered by dynein pulling on minus ends of severed microtubules. NuMA and dynein/dynactin are specifically enriched at new minus ends within seconds, reanchoring minus ends to the spindle and delivering them to poles. This force on minus ends represents a newly uncovered chromosome transport mechanism that is independent of plus end forces at kinetochores and is well suited to robustly maintain spindle mechanical integrity.

Direct kinetochore-spindle pole connections are not required for chromosome segregation

In the absence of continuous K-fiber attachment between each kinetochore and the spindle pole, one or more additional mechanisms dependent on dynein-mediated kinetochore transport exist to ensure proper chromosome segregation during mitosis.

Segregation of genetic material occurs when chromosomes move to opposite spindle poles during mitosis. This movement depends on K-fibers, specialized microtubule (MT) bundles attached to the chromosomes′ kinetochores. A long-standing assumption is that continuous K-fibers connect every kinetochore to a spindle pole and the force for chromosome movement is produced at the kinetochore and coupled with MT depolymerization. However, we found that chromosomes still maintained their position at the spindle equator during metaphase and segregated properly during anaphase when one of their K-fibers was severed near the kinetochore with a laser microbeam. We also found that, in normal fully assembled spindles, K-fibers of some chromosomes did not extend to the spindle pole. These K-fibers connected to adjacent K-fibers and/or nonkinetochore MTs. Poleward movement of chromosomes with short K-fibers was uncoupled from MT depolymerization at the kinetochore. Instead, these chromosomes moved by dynein-mediated transport of the entire K-fiber/kinetochore assembly. Thus, at least two distinct parallel mechanisms drive chromosome segregation in mammalian cells.

Stressing mitosis to death

The final stage of cell division (mitosis), involves the compaction of the duplicated genome into chromatid pairs. Each pair is captured by microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles, aligned at the metaphase plate, and then faithfully segregated to form two identical daughter cells. Chromatids that are not correctly attached to the spindle are detected by the constitutively active spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). Any stress that prevents correct bipolar spindle attachment, blocks the satisfaction of the SAC, and induces a prolonged mitotic arrest, providing the cell time to obtain attachment and complete segregation correctly. Unfortunately, during mitosis repairing damage is not generally possible due to the compaction of DNA into chromosomes, and subsequent suppression of gene transcription and translation. Therefore, in the presence of significant damage cell death is instigated to ensure that genomic stability is maintained. While most stresses lead to an arrest in mitosis, some promote premature mitotic exit, allowing cells to bypass mitotic cell death. This mini-review will focus on the effects and outcomes that common stresses have on mitosis, and how this impacts on the efficacy of mitotic chemotherapies.

Shaping up to divide: coordinating actin and microtubule cytoskeletal remodelling during mitosis

Cell division requires the wholesale reorganization of cell architecture. At the same time as the microtubule network is remodelled to generate a bipolar spindle, animal cells entering mitosis replace their interphase actin cytoskeleton with a contractile mitotic actomyosin cortex that is tightly coupled to the plasma membrane--driving mitotic cell rounding. Here, we consider how these two processes are coordinated to couple chromosome segregation and cell division. In doing so we explore the relative roles of cell shape and the actin cortex in spindle morphogenesis, orientation and positioning.

Plasma microcontact patterning (PμCP): a technique for the precise control of surface patterning at small-scale

Plasma microcontact patterning (PμCP) is a simple, efficient, and cost-effective method for the precise patterning of molecules on surfaces. It combines the use of low-pressure plasma with an elastomeric 3D mask to spatially control the removal of molecules, such as proteins, from a surface. The entire PμCP process is subdivided into three main steps: surface precoating, plasma micropatterning, and a surface postcoating step. Surfaces are first precoated with a molecular species and then placed in close contact with the 3D mask. This allows the formation of two distinct regions: an un-masked open-region which is accessible to the plasma, from which the surface layer is removed, and, a contact region which is physically protected from exposure to the plasma. In the final step, a second molecule is added to back-fill the pattern generated through plasma-treatment. The PμCP technique allows the patterning of virtually any organic molecules on different surface materials and geometries (e.g., flat, curved surfaces, and 3D microstructures). Moreover, it is a simple and robust procedure. The main advantages of this approach over traditional microcontact printing are twofold: The stability of molecule binding to plasma-treated surfaces, and the separation of the surface functionalization step from the actual micropatterning step, which enables the precise control of concentration and uniformity of patterned molecules. In conclusion, PμCP is a simple way to generate surface patterns that are highly reproducible, stable and uniform, making it a useful method for many applications.

Cytoplasmic volume modulates spindle size during embryogenesis

Rapid and reductive cell divisions during embryogenesis require that intracellular structures adapt to a wide range of cell sizes. The mitotic spindle presents a central example of this flexibility, scaling with the dimensions of the cell to mediate accurate chromosome segregation. To determine whether spindle size regulation is achieved through a developmental program or is intrinsically specified by cell size or shape, we developed a system to encapsulate cytoplasm from Xenopus eggs and embryos inside cell-like compartments of defined sizes. Spindle size was observed to shrink with decreasing compartment size, similar to what occurs during early embryogenesis, and this scaling trend depended on compartment volume rather than shape. Thus, the amount of cytoplasmic material provides a mechanism for regulating the size of intracellular structures.

Mechanical stress impairs mitosis progression in multi-cellular tumor spheroids

Growing solid tumors are subjected to mechanical stress that influences their growth rate and development. However, little is known about its effects on tumor cell biology. To explore this issue, we investigated the impact of mechanical confinement on cell proliferation in MultiCellular Tumor Spheroids (MCTS), a 3D culture model that recapitulates the microenvironment, proliferative gradient, and cell-cell interactions of a tumor. Dedicated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microdevices were designed to spatially restrict MCTS growth. In this confined environment, spheroids are likely to experience mechanical stress as indicated by their modified cell morphology and density and by their relaxation upon removal from the microdevice. We show that the proliferation gradient within mechanically confined spheroids is different in comparison to MCTS grown in suspension. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a population of cells within the body of mechanically confined MCTS is arrested at mitosis. Cell morphology analysis reveals that this mitotic arrest is not caused by impaired cell rounding, but rather that confinement negatively affects bipolar spindle assembly. All together these results suggest that mechanical stress induced by progressive confinement of growing spheroids could impair mitotic progression. This study paves the way to future research to better understand the tumor cell response to mechanical cues similar to those encountered during in vivo tumor development.

The mechanics behind cell division

It is now well established that the orientation of the plane of cell division highly depends on cell geometry in plants. However, the related molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. Recent data in animal systems highlight the role of the cytoskeleton response to mechanical stress in this process. Interestingly, these results are consistent with some data obtained in parallel in plants. Here we review and confront these studies, across kingdoms, and we explore the possibility that the intrinsic mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton play a key role in the nexus between cell division and mechanical stress. This opens many avenues for future research that are also discussed in this review.