Live-cell imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans reveals the distinct roles of dynamin self-assembly and guanosine triphosphate hydrolysis in the removal of apoptotic cells.

ABSTRACT: Dynamins are large GTPases that oligomerize along membranes. Dynamin's membrane fission activity is believed to underlie many of its physiological functions in membrane trafficking. Previously, we reported that DYN-1 (Caenorhabditis elegans dynamin) drove the engulfment and degradation of apoptotic cells through promoting the recruitment and fusion of intracellular vesicles to phagocytic cups and phagosomes, an activity distinct from dynamin's well-known membrane fission activity. Here, we have detected the oligomerization of DYN-1 in living C. elegans embryos and identified DYN-1 mutations that abolish DYN-1's oligomerization or GTPase activities. Specifically, abolishing self-assembly destroys DYN-1's association with the surfaces of extending pseudopods and maturing phagosomes, whereas

SUBMITTER: He B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2820425 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature