C. elegans HAM-1 positions the cleavage plane and regulates apoptosis in asymmetric neuroblast divisions

C. Andrew Frank; Nancy C Hawkins; Catherine Guenther; H. Robert Horvitz; Gian Garriga

doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.05.026

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C. elegans HAM-1 positions the cleavage plane and regulates apoptosis in asymmetric neuroblast divisions

Journal article

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C. elegans HAM-1 positions the cleavage plane and regulates apoptosis in asymmetric neuroblast divisions

C. Andrew Frank, Nancy C Hawkins, Catherine Guenther, H. Robert Horvitz and Gian Garriga

Developmental biology, Vol.284(2), pp.301-310

2005

DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.05.026

PMID: 15979607

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Abstract

Asymmetric cell division occurs when a mother cell divides to generate two distinct daughter cells, a process that promotes the generation of cellular diversity in metazoans. During Caenorhabditis elegans development, the asymmetric divisions of neural progenitors generate neurons, neural support cells and apoptotic cells. C. elegans HAM-1 is an asymmetrically distributed cortical protein that regulates several of these asymmetric neuroblast divisions. Here, we show that HAM-1 is a novel protein and define residues important for HAM-1 function and distribution to the cell cortex. Our phenotypic analysis of ham-1 mutant embryos suggests that HAM-1 controls only neuroblast divisions that produce apoptotic cells. Moreover, ham-1 mutant embryos contain many unusually large cell-death corpses. An investigation of this corpse phenotype revealed that it results from a reversal of neuroblast polarity. A misplacement of the neuroblast cleavage plane generates daughter cells of abnormal size, with the apoptotic daughters larger than normal. Thus, HAM-1 regulates the position of the cleavage plane, apoptosis and mitotic potential in C. elegans asymmetric cell divisions.

Caenorhabditis elegans

Neuroblast

HAM-1

Asymmetric cell division

Apoptosis

Details

Title: Subtitle: C. elegans HAM-1 positions the cleavage plane and regulates apoptosis in asymmetric neuroblast divisions
Creators: C. Andrew Frank - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA
Nancy C Hawkins - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA
Catherine Guenther - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA
H. Robert Horvitz - Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Gian Garriga - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Developmental biology, Vol.284(2), pp.301-310
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.05.026
PMID: 15979607
NLM abbreviation: Dev Biol
ISSN: 0012-1606
eISSN: 1095-564X
Publisher: Elsevier Inc
Language: English
Date published: 2005
Academic Unit: Anatomy and Cell Biology; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984025458002771

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