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Cells
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Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division
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Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Motility and Adhesion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 23575

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Regis Giet

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Université de Rennes-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Interests: cell division; microtubule cytoskeleton; chromosome segregation
Dr. Julien Dumont

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Université de Paris-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Interests: cell division; microtubule cytoskeleton; kinetochore; chromosome segregation; meiosis

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Cell division is arguably the most important stage of the cell cycle that aims to split a mother cell into two daughter cells. During cell division, information carried by the chromosomes has to be distributed equally to the future daughter cells. But cell division is not limited to transmitting information encoded by the genome. Indeed within tissues, proteins, mRNAs and even organelles must be delivered in a controlled manner; sometimes even asymmetrically to control the fate of the daughter cells or ensure appropriate tissue homeostasis. The symmetrical or asymmetrical distribution of molecules and structures during mitosis and meiosis is accompanied, and in fact orchestrated by dramatic changes in the organization, structure and dynamics of the cytoskeleton. Elucidating these cytoskeletal changes and their mechanisms is of utmost importance to understand normal cell division and how misregulation can lead to pathological conditions. In humans for example, cell division must go like clockwork or things fall down, and cancer or other diseases can arise.

The spectacular technological developments of the last decade combined with the use of different and complementary in vivo and in vitro model systems have led to extraordinary progresses in our capacity to visualize these cytoskeletal rearrangements, opening the way for a comprehensive  understanding of the spatial and temporal regulation of the cytoskeleton during cell division. In this special issue entitled "Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division", we invite contributions in the form of reviews and perspectives on the latest advances in the field.

Dr. Regis Giet
Dr. Julien Dumont
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Meiosis
  • Mitosis
  • Microtubules
  • Model systems
  • Actin
  • Myosin
  • Chromatin
  • Chromosomes
  • Centromere
  • Kinetochore
  • Centrosome
  • Spindle pole body
  • Cytokinesis
  • Asymmetric cell division
  • Embryogenesis

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Review

27 pages, 2029 KiB  
Review
Microtubule and Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Male Meiotic Cells of Drosophila melanogaster
by Anna Frappaolo, Roberto Piergentili and Maria Grazia Giansanti
Cells 2022, 11(4), 695; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11040695 - 16 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4160
Abstract
Drosophila dividing spermatocytes offer a highly suitable cell system in which to investigate the coordinated reorganization of microtubule and actin cytoskeleton systems during cell division of animal cells. Like male germ cells of mammals, Drosophila spermatogonia and spermatocytes undergo cleavage furrow ingression during [...] Read more.
Drosophila dividing spermatocytes offer a highly suitable cell system in which to investigate the coordinated reorganization of microtubule and actin cytoskeleton systems during cell division of animal cells. Like male germ cells of mammals, Drosophila spermatogonia and spermatocytes undergo cleavage furrow ingression during cytokinesis, but abscission does not take place. Thus, clusters of primary and secondary spermatocytes undergo meiotic divisions in synchrony, resulting in cysts of 32 secondary spermatocytes and then 64 spermatids connected by specialized structures called ring canals. The meiotic spindles in Drosophila males are substantially larger than the spindles of mammalian somatic cells and exhibit prominent central spindles and contractile rings during cytokinesis. These characteristics make male meiotic cells particularly amenable to immunofluorescence and live imaging analysis of the spindle microtubules and the actomyosin apparatus during meiotic divisions. Moreover, because the spindle assembly checkpoint is not robust in spermatocytes, Drosophila male meiosis allows investigating of whether gene products required for chromosome segregation play additional roles during cytokinesis. Here, we will review how the research studies on Drosophila male meiotic cells have contributed to our knowledge of the conserved molecular pathways that regulate spindle microtubules and cytokinesis with important implications for the comprehension of cancer and other diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division)
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17 pages, 708 KiB  
Review
Spatial and Temporal Scaling of Microtubules and Mitotic Spindles
by Benjamin Lacroix and Julien Dumont
Cells 2022, 11(2), 248; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11020248 - 12 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5702
Abstract
During cell division, the mitotic spindle, a macromolecular structure primarily comprised of microtubules, drives chromosome alignment and partitioning between daughter cells. Mitotic spindles can sense cellular dimensions in order to adapt their length and mass to cell size. This scaling capacity is particularly [...] Read more.
During cell division, the mitotic spindle, a macromolecular structure primarily comprised of microtubules, drives chromosome alignment and partitioning between daughter cells. Mitotic spindles can sense cellular dimensions in order to adapt their length and mass to cell size. This scaling capacity is particularly remarkable during early embryo cleavage when cells divide rapidly in the absence of cell growth, thus leading to a reduction of cell volume at each division. Although mitotic spindle size scaling can occur over an order of magnitude in early embryos, in many species the duration of mitosis is relatively short, constant throughout early development and independent of cell size. Therefore, a key challenge for cells during embryo cleavage is not only to assemble a spindle of proper size, but also to do it in an appropriate time window which is compatible with embryo development. How spatial and temporal scaling of the mitotic spindle is achieved and coordinated with the duration of mitosis remains elusive. In this review, we will focus on the mechanisms that support mitotic spindle spatial and temporal scaling over a wide range of cell sizes and cellular contexts. We will present current models and propose alternative mechanisms allowing cells to spatially and temporally coordinate microtubule and mitotic spindle assembly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division)
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Figure 1

17 pages, 3738 KiB  
Review
The Cytoskeleton and Its Roles in Self-Organization Phenomena: Insights from Xenopus Egg Extracts
by Zachary M. Geisterfer, Gabriel Guilloux, Jesse C. Gatlin and Romain Gibeaux
Cells 2021, 10(9), 2197; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10092197 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3596
Abstract
Self-organization of and by the cytoskeleton is central to the biology of the cell. Since their introduction in the early 1980s, cytoplasmic extracts derived from the eggs of the African clawed-frog, Xenopus laevis, have flourished as a major experimental system to study [...] Read more.
Self-organization of and by the cytoskeleton is central to the biology of the cell. Since their introduction in the early 1980s, cytoplasmic extracts derived from the eggs of the African clawed-frog, Xenopus laevis, have flourished as a major experimental system to study the various facets of cytoskeleton-dependent self-organization. Over the years, the many investigations that have used these extracts uniquely benefited from their simplified cell cycle, large experimental volumes, biochemical tractability and cell-free nature. Here, we review the contributions of egg extracts to our understanding of the cytoplasmic aspects of self-organization by the microtubule and the actomyosin cytoskeletons as well as the importance of cytoskeletal filaments in organizing nuclear structure and function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division)
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17 pages, 1868 KiB  
Review
The Tubulin Code in Mitosis and Cancer
by Danilo Lopes and Helder Maiato
Cells 2020, 9(11), 2356; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9112356 - 26 Oct 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 9448
Abstract
The “tubulin code” combines different α/β-tubulin isotypes with several post-translational modifications (PTMs) to generate microtubule diversity in cells. During cell division, specific microtubule populations in the mitotic spindle are differentially modified, but only recently, the functional significance of the tubulin code, with particular [...] Read more.
The “tubulin code” combines different α/β-tubulin isotypes with several post-translational modifications (PTMs) to generate microtubule diversity in cells. During cell division, specific microtubule populations in the mitotic spindle are differentially modified, but only recently, the functional significance of the tubulin code, with particular emphasis on the role specified by tubulin PTMs, started to be elucidated. This is the case of α-tubulin detyrosination, which was shown to guide chromosomes during congression to the metaphase plate and allow the discrimination of mitotic errors, whose correction is required to prevent chromosomal instability—a hallmark of human cancers implicated in tumor evolution and metastasis. Although alterations in the expression of certain tubulin isotypes and associated PTMs have been reported in human cancers, it remains unclear whether and how the tubulin code has any functional implications for cancer cell properties. Here, we review the role of the tubulin code in chromosome segregation during mitosis and how it impacts cancer cell properties. In this context, we discuss the existence of an emerging “cancer tubulin code” and the respective implications for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cytoskeleton Dynamics during Cell Division)
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