Tumor suppressor APC is an attenuator of spindle-pulling forces during C. elegans asymmetric cell division
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Significance Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is a Wnt signaling component as well as a microtubule-associated protein, and its mutations are frequently associated with colorectal cancers in humans. Although APC stabilizes microtubules, its mechanical role during cell division is largely unknown. Here we show that APC is an attenuator of forces acting on the mitotic spindle during asymmetric cell division of the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote. We performed live imaging, laser microsurgery, and numerical simulation to show how APC suppresses spindle-pulling force generation by stabilizing microtubule plus-ends and reducing microtubule catastrophe frequency at the cell cortex. Our study documents a mechanical role for the APC protein and provides a physical basis for spindle-pulling force attenuation.
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Human Frontier Science Program, Uehara Memorial Foundation, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, National Institutes of Health, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Awards: Mechanism for mirro-symmetric organogenesis, G1695373109, G3389222428, G3430648206, G396770534, Mechanism of intestinal midrobiota regulation by intestinal IgA, G4759498286, Construction and Experimental Validation of Mechanical Models for Cell Division, Coordinated cell polarization mediated by Wnts, Mitotic Spindle Assembly & Function in C. elegans, The mechanism for the positioning of cell nucleus at the cell center, G8099746064, G8589795782, Caenorhabditis Genetics Center
OpenAlex ID: W2950778998