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Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes

Microtubule asters must be positioned precisely within cells. How forces generated by molecular motors such as dynein are integrated in space and time to enable such positioning remains unclear. In particular, whereas aster movements depend on the drag caused by cytoplasm viscosity, in vivo drag mea...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: De Simone, A., Spahr, A., Busso, C., Gönczy, P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5838244/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29507295
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03118-x
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author De Simone, A.
Spahr, A.
Busso, C.
Gönczy, P.
author_facet De Simone, A.
Spahr, A.
Busso, C.
Gönczy, P.
author_sort De Simone, A.
collection PubMed
description Microtubule asters must be positioned precisely within cells. How forces generated by molecular motors such as dynein are integrated in space and time to enable such positioning remains unclear. In particular, whereas aster movements depend on the drag caused by cytoplasm viscosity, in vivo drag measurements are lacking, precluding a thorough understanding of the mechanisms governing aster positioning. Here, we investigate this fundamental question during the migration of asters and pronuclei in C. elegans zygotes, a process essential for the mixing of parental genomes. Detailed quantification of these movements using the female pronucleus as an in vivo probe establish that the drag coefficient of the male-asters complex is approximately five times that of the female pronucleus. Further analysis of embryos lacking cortical dynein, the connection between asters and male pronucleus, or the male pronucleus altogether, uncovers the balance of dynein-driven forces that accurately position microtubule asters in C. elegans zygotes.
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spelling pubmed-58382442018-03-08 Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes De Simone, A. Spahr, A. Busso, C. Gönczy, P. Nat Commun Article Microtubule asters must be positioned precisely within cells. How forces generated by molecular motors such as dynein are integrated in space and time to enable such positioning remains unclear. In particular, whereas aster movements depend on the drag caused by cytoplasm viscosity, in vivo drag measurements are lacking, precluding a thorough understanding of the mechanisms governing aster positioning. Here, we investigate this fundamental question during the migration of asters and pronuclei in C. elegans zygotes, a process essential for the mixing of parental genomes. Detailed quantification of these movements using the female pronucleus as an in vivo probe establish that the drag coefficient of the male-asters complex is approximately five times that of the female pronucleus. Further analysis of embryos lacking cortical dynein, the connection between asters and male pronucleus, or the male pronucleus altogether, uncovers the balance of dynein-driven forces that accurately position microtubule asters in C. elegans zygotes. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5838244/ /pubmed/29507295 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03118-x Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
De Simone, A.
Spahr, A.
Busso, C.
Gönczy, P.
Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title_full Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title_fullStr Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title_full_unstemmed Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title_short Uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in C. elegans zygotes
title_sort uncovering the balance of forces driving microtubule aster migration in c. elegans zygotes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5838244/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29507295
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03118-x
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