Cortical recruitment of nonmuscle myosin II in early syncytial Drosophila embryos: its role in nuclear axial expansion and its regulation by Cdc2 activity.

ABSTRACT: The nuclei of early syncytial Drosophila embryos migrate dramatically toward the poles. The cellular mechanisms driving this process, called axial expansion, are unclear, but myosin II activity is required. By following regulatory myosin light chain (RLC)-green fluorescent protein dynamics in living embryos, we observed cycles of myosin recruitment to the cortex synchronized with mitotic cycles. Cortical myosin is first seen in a patch at the anterocentral part of the embryo at cycle 4. With each succeeding cycle, the patch expands poleward, dispersing at the beginning of each mitosis and reassembling at the end of telophase. Each cycle of actin and myosin recruitment is accompanied by a cortical contraction. The cortical myosin cycle does not require microtubules but correlates inversely

SUBMITTER: Royou A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2173028 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature