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Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis

Many cells contain non-centrosomal arrays of microtubules (MTs), but the assembly, organisation and function of these arrays are poorly understood. We present the first theoretical model for the non-centrosomal MT cytoskeleton in Drosophila oocytes, in which bicoid and oskar mRNAs become localised t...

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Autores principales: Khuc Trong, Philipp, Doerflinger, Hélène, Dunkel, Jörn, St Johnston, Daniel, Goldstein, Raymond E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580948/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26406117
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088
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author Khuc Trong, Philipp
Doerflinger, Hélène
Dunkel, Jörn
St Johnston, Daniel
Goldstein, Raymond E
author_facet Khuc Trong, Philipp
Doerflinger, Hélène
Dunkel, Jörn
St Johnston, Daniel
Goldstein, Raymond E
author_sort Khuc Trong, Philipp
collection PubMed
description Many cells contain non-centrosomal arrays of microtubules (MTs), but the assembly, organisation and function of these arrays are poorly understood. We present the first theoretical model for the non-centrosomal MT cytoskeleton in Drosophila oocytes, in which bicoid and oskar mRNAs become localised to establish the anterior-posterior body axis. Constrained by experimental measurements, the model shows that a simple gradient of cortical MT nucleation is sufficient to reproduce the observed MT distribution, cytoplasmic flow patterns and localisation of oskar and naive bicoid mRNAs. Our simulations exclude a major role for cytoplasmic flows in localisation and reveal an organisation of the MT cytoskeleton that is more ordered than previously thought. Furthermore, modulating cortical MT nucleation induces a bifurcation in cytoskeletal organisation that accounts for the phenotypes of polarity mutants. Thus, our three-dimensional model explains many features of the MT network and highlights the importance of differential cortical MT nucleation for axis formation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088.001
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spelling pubmed-45809482015-09-26 Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis Khuc Trong, Philipp Doerflinger, Hélène Dunkel, Jörn St Johnston, Daniel Goldstein, Raymond E eLife Cell Biology Many cells contain non-centrosomal arrays of microtubules (MTs), but the assembly, organisation and function of these arrays are poorly understood. We present the first theoretical model for the non-centrosomal MT cytoskeleton in Drosophila oocytes, in which bicoid and oskar mRNAs become localised to establish the anterior-posterior body axis. Constrained by experimental measurements, the model shows that a simple gradient of cortical MT nucleation is sufficient to reproduce the observed MT distribution, cytoplasmic flow patterns and localisation of oskar and naive bicoid mRNAs. Our simulations exclude a major role for cytoplasmic flows in localisation and reveal an organisation of the MT cytoskeleton that is more ordered than previously thought. Furthermore, modulating cortical MT nucleation induces a bifurcation in cytoskeletal organisation that accounts for the phenotypes of polarity mutants. Thus, our three-dimensional model explains many features of the MT network and highlights the importance of differential cortical MT nucleation for axis formation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088.001 eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2015-09-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4580948/ /pubmed/26406117 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088 Text en © 2015, Khuc Trong et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Cell Biology
Khuc Trong, Philipp
Doerflinger, Hélène
Dunkel, Jörn
St Johnston, Daniel
Goldstein, Raymond E
Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title_full Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title_fullStr Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title_full_unstemmed Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title_short Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
title_sort cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
topic Cell Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580948/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26406117
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06088
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