Microtubules oppose cortical actomyosin-driven membrane ingression during C. elegans meiosis I polar body extrusion.

During C. elegans oocyte meiosis I cytokinesis and polar body extrusion, cortical actomyosin is locally remodeled to assemble a contractile ring that forms within and remains part of a much larger and actively contractile cortical actomyosin network. This network both mediates contractile ring dynamics and generates shallow ingressions throughout the oocyte cortex during polar body extrusion. Based on our analysis of requirements for CLS-2, a member of the CLASP family of proteins that stabilize microtubules, we recently proposed that a balance of actomyosin-mediated tension and microtubule-mediated stiffness limits membrane ingression throughout the oocyte during meiosis I polar body extrusion. Here, using live cell imaging and fluorescent protein fusions, we show that CLS-2 is part of a group of kinetochore proteins, including the scaffold KNL-1 and the kinase BUB-1, that also co-localize during meiosis I to structures called linear elements, which are present within the assembling oocyte spindle and also are distributed throughout the oocyte in proximity to, but appearing to underlie, the actomyosin cortex. We further show that KNL-1 and BUB-1, like CLS-2, promote the proper organization of sub-cortical microtubules and also limit membrane ingression throughout the oocyte. Moreover, nocodazole or taxol treatment to destabilize or stabilize oocyte microtubules leads to, respectively, excess or decreased membrane ingression throughout the oocyte. Furthermore, taxol treatment, and genetic backgrounds that elevate the levels of cortically associated microtubules, both suppress excess membrane ingression in cls-2 mutant oocytes. We propose that linear elements influence the organization of sub-cortical microtubules to generate a stiffness that limits cortical actomyosin-driven membrane ingression throughout the oocyte during meiosis I polar body extrusion. We discuss the possibility that this regulation of sub-cortical microtubule dynamics facilitates actomyosin contractile ring dynamics during C. elegans oocyte meiosis I cell division.

C. elegans XMAP215/ZYG-9 and TACC/TAC-1 act at multiple times during oocyte meiotic spindle assembly and promote both spindle pole coalescence and stability.

The conserved two-component XMAP215/TACC modulator of microtubule stability is required in multiple animal phyla for acentrosomal spindle assembly during oocyte meiotic cell division. In C. elegans, XMAP215/zyg-9 and TACC/tac-1 mutant oocytes exhibit multiple and indistinguishable oocyte spindle assembly defects beginning early in meiosis I. To determine if these defects represent one or more early requirements with additional later and indirect consequences, or multiple temporally distinct and more direct requirements, we have used live cell imaging and fast-acting temperature-sensitive zyg-9 and tac-1 alleles to dissect their requirements at high temporal resolution. Temperature upshift and downshift experiments indicate that the ZYG-9/TAC-1 complex has multiple temporally distinct and separable requirements throughout oocyte meiotic cell division. First, we show that during prometaphase ZYG-9 and TAC-1 promote the coalescence of early pole foci into a bipolar structure, stabilizing pole foci as they grow and limiting their growth rate, with these requirements being independent of an earlier defect in microtubule organization that occurs upon nuclear envelope breakdown. Second, during metaphase, ZYG-9 and TAC-1 maintain spindle bipolarity by suppressing ectopic pole formation. Third, we show that ZYG-9 and TAC-1 also are required for spindle assembly during meiosis II, independently of their meiosis I requirements. The metaphase pole stability requirement appears to be important for maintaining chromosome congression, and we discuss how negative regulation of microtubule stability by ZYG-9/TAC-1 during oocyte meiotic cell division might account for the observed defects in spindle pole coalescence and stability.

Cortical microtubules oppose actomyosin-driven membrane ingression during C. elegans meiosis I polar body extrusion.

During C. elegans oocyte meiosis I, cortical actomyosin is locally remodeled to assemble a contractile ring near the spindle. In contrast to mitosis, when most cortical actomyosin converges into a contractile ring, the small oocyte ring forms within and remains part of a much larger and actively contractile cortical actomyosin network. This network both mediates contractile ring dynamics and generates shallow ingressions throughout the oocyte cortex during polar body extrusion. Based on our analysis of requirements for CLS-2, a member of the CLASP family of proteins that stabilize microtubules, we recently proposed that a balance of actomyosin-mediated tension and microtubule-mediated stiffness are required for contractile ring assembly within the oocyte cortical actomyosin network. Here, using live cell imaging and fluorescent protein fusions, we show that CLS-2 is part of a complex of kinetochore proteins, including the scaffold KNL-1 and the kinase BUB-1, that also co-localize to patches distributed throughout the oocyte cortex during meiosis I. By reducing their function, we further show that KNL-1 and BUB-1, like CLS-2, are required for cortical microtubule stability, to limit membrane ingression throughout the oocyte, and for meiotic contractile ring assembly and polar body extrusion. Moreover, nocodazole or taxol treatment to destabilize or stabilize oocyte microtubules, respectively, leads to excess or decreased membrane ingression throughout the oocyte and defective polar body extrusion. Finally, genetic backgrounds that elevate cortical microtubule levels suppress the excess membrane ingression in cls-2 mutant oocytes. These results support our hypothesis that CLS-2, as part of a sub-complex of kinetochore proteins that also co-localize to patches throughout the oocyte cortex, stabilizes microtubules to stiffen the oocyte cortex and limit membrane ingression throughout the oocyte, thereby facilitating contractile ring dynamics and the successful completion of polar body extrusion during meiosis I.

Microtubule assembly and pole coalescence: early steps in Caenorhabditiselegans oocyte meiosis I spindle assembly.

How oocytes assemble bipolar meiotic spindles in the absence of centrosomes as microtubule organizing centers remains poorly understood. We have used live cell imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate requirements for the nuclear lamina and for conserved regulators of microtubule dynamics during oocyte meiosis I spindle assembly, assessing these requirements with respect to recently identified spindle assembly steps. We show that the nuclear lamina is required for microtubule bundles to form a peripheral cage-like structure that appears shortly after oocyte nuclear envelope breakdown and surrounds the oocyte chromosomes, although bipolar spindles still assembled in its absence. Although two conserved regulators of microtubule nucleation, RAN-1 and γ-tubulin, are not required for bipolar spindle assembly, both contribute to normal levels of spindle-associated microtubules and spindle assembly dynamics. Finally, the XMAP215 ortholog ZYG-9 and the nearly identical minus-end directed kinesins KLP-15/16 are required for proper assembly of the early cage-like structure of microtubule bundles, and for early spindle pole foci to coalesce into a bipolar structure. Our results provide a framework for assigning molecular mechanisms to recently described steps in C. elegans oocyte meiosis I spindle assembly.

Long-range directional movement of an interphase chromosome site.

Increasing evidence suggests functional compartmentalization of interphase nuclei. This includes preferential interior localization of gene-rich and early replicating chromosome regions versus peripheral localization of gene-poor and late replicating chromosome regions , association of some active genes with nuclear speckles or transcription "factories", and association of transcriptionally repressed genes with heterochromatic regions. Dynamic changes in chromosome compartmentalization imply mechanisms for long-range interphase chromatin movements. However, live cell imaging in mammalian cells has revealed limited chromatin mobility, described as "constrained diffusion". None of these studies, though, have examined a chromosome locus undergoing an inducible repositioning between two different nuclear compartments. Here we demonstrate migration of an interphase chromosome site from the nuclear periphery to the interior 1-2 hr after targeting a transcriptional activator to this site. Spot redistribution is perturbed by specific actin or nuclear myosin I mutants. Extended periods of chromosome immobility are interspersed with several minute periods in which chromosomes move unidirectionally along curvilinear paths oriented roughly perpendicular to the nuclear envelope at velocities of 0.1-0.9 microm/min over distances of 1-5 microm. Our results suggest an active mechanism for fast and directed long-range interphase chromosome movements dependent directly or indirectly on actin/myosin.

KLP-7 acts through the Ndc80 complex to limit pole number in C. elegans oocyte meiotic spindle assembly.

During oocyte meiotic cell division in many animals, bipolar spindles assemble in the absence of centrosomes, but the mechanisms that restrict pole assembly to a bipolar state are unknown. We show that KLP-7, the single mitotic centromere-associated kinesin (MCAK)/kinesin-13 in Caenorhabditis elegans, is required for bipolar oocyte meiotic spindle assembly. In klp-7(-) mutants, extra microtubules accumulated, extra functional spindle poles assembled, and chromosomes frequently segregated as three distinct masses during meiosis I anaphase. Moreover, reducing KLP-7 function in monopolar klp-18(-) mutants often restored spindle bipolarity and chromosome segregation. MCAKs act at kinetochores to correct improper kinetochore-microtubule (k-MT) attachments, and depletion of the Ndc-80 kinetochore complex, which binds microtubules to mediate kinetochore attachment, restored bipolarity in klp-7(-) mutant oocytes. We propose a model in which KLP-7/MCAK regulates k-MT attachment and spindle tension to promote the coalescence of early spindle pole foci that produces a bipolar structure during the acentrosomal process of oocyte meiotic spindle assembly.

High-Throughput Cloning of Temperature-Sensitive Caenorhabditis elegans Mutants with Adult Syncytial Germline Membrane Architecture Defects.

The adult Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite gonad consists of two mirror-symmetric U-shaped arms, with germline nuclei located peripherally in the distal regions of each arm. The nuclei are housed within membrane cubicles that are open to the center, forming a syncytium with a shared cytoplasmic core called the rachis. As the distal germline nuclei progress through meiotic prophase, they move proximally and eventually cellularize as their compartments grow in size. The development and maintenance of this complex and dynamic germline membrane architecture are relatively unexplored, and we have used a forward genetic screen to identify 20 temperature-sensitive mutations in 19 essential genes that cause defects in the germline membrane architecture. Using a combined genome-wide SNP mapping and whole genome sequencing strategy, we have identified the causal mutations in 10 of these mutants. Four of the genes we have identified are conserved, with orthologs known to be involved in membrane biology, and are required for proper development or maintenance of the adult germline membrane architecture. This work provides a starting point for further investigation of the mechanisms that control the dynamics of syncytial membrane architecture during adult oogenesis.

Long-term ethanol exposure-induced hepatocellular carcinoma cell migration and invasion through lysyl oxidase activation are attenuated by combined treatment with pterostilbene and curcumin analogues.

Ethanol consumption induces hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell metastasis by changing the extracellular matrix (ECM). Lysyl oxidase (LOX) catalyzes the cross-linkage of collagen or elastin in the ECM. LOX protein and mRNA overexpression (>21-fold compared with controls, n = 6) was detected in cirrhotic HCC patients with a history of alcoholism. LOX protein expression was induced in HCC cells after long-term treatment with ethanol (10 mM) for 20-40 passages (denoted E20-E40 cells). Pterostilbene (PSB, 1 µM) displayed significant potency to reduce LOX-mediated activity in E40 cells when combined with curcumin and its analogues. The ability of E40 cells to form colonies in soft agar was reduced by both genetic depletion of LOX and by chemical inhibitors of LOX expression. This study suggests that targeting LOX expression with food components such as PSB and curcumin may be a novel strategy to overcome ethanol-induced HCC cell metastasis in liver cancer patients.

Moving chromatin within the interphase nucleus-controlled transitions?

The past decade has seen an increasing appreciation for nuclear compartmentalization as an underlying determinant of interphase chromosome nuclear organization. To date, attention has focused primarily on describing differential localization of particular genes or chromosome regions as a function of differentiation, cell cycle position, and/or transcriptional activity. The question of how exactly interphase chromosome compartmentalization is established and in particular how interphase chromosomes might move during changes in nuclear compartmentalization has received less attention. Here we review what is known concerning chromatin mobility in relationship to physiologically regulated changes in nuclear interphase chromosome organization.

Close encounters between active genes in the nucleus.

A recent paper demonstrates that coregulated genes on different chromosomes show surprisingly high frequencies of colocalization within the nucleus; this complements similar results found previously for genes localized tens of megabases apart on a single chromosome. Colocalization could be related to the earlier observation of active genes associating with foci where RNA polymerase II is concentrated.