Cytokinesis in animals, fungi, and amoebas depends on the constriction of a contractile ring built from a common set of conserved proteins. Many fundamental questions remain about how these proteins organize to generate the necessary tension for cytokinesis. Using quantitative high-speed fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy (FPALM), we probed this question in live fission yeast cells at unprecedented resolution. We show that nodes, protein assembly precursors to the contractile ring, are discrete structural units with stoichiometric ratios and distinct distributions of constituent proteins. Anillin Mid1p, Fes/CIP4 homology-Bin/amphiphysin/ Rvs (F-BAR) Cdc15p, IQ motif containing GTPase-activating protein (IQGAP) Rng2p, and formin Cdc12p form the base of the node that anchors the ends of myosin II tails to the plasma membrane, with myosin II heads extending into the cytoplasm. This general node organization persists in the contractile ring where nodes move bidirectionally during constriction. We observed the dynamics of the actin network during cytokinesis, starting with the extension of short actin strands from nodes, which sometimes connected neighboring nodes. Later in cytokinesis, a broad network of thick bundles coalesced into a tight ring around the equator of the cell. The actin ring was ∼125 nm wide and ∼125 nm thick. These observations establish the organization of the proteins in the functional units of a cytokinetic contractile ring.T he mechanism of cell division by a contractile ring of actin and myosin II appeared in the common ancestor of amoebas, fungi, and animals (1). Although much is known about the protein composition of contractile rings, relatively little is known about the 3D organization of these proteins. This information is required to formulate computer models and simulations to test ideas regarding the mechanisms of contractile ring function.Electron microscopy has shown actin filaments in contractile rings of animal cells (2, 3) and yeast cells (4,5). Myosin II concentrates in cleavage furrow (6) and is the main motor for constricting contractile rings (7,8). In animal cells, electron microscopy has revealed rods the size of myosin II minifilaments in contractile rings (2, 9), and structured-illumination fluorescence microscopy has shown that this myosin II is organized in bipolar assemblies (10). Contractile rings contain other structural and regulatory proteins, including anillin (11), IQ motif containing GTPase-activating proteins (IQGAP) (12), formins (13), alphaactinin (14), and Fes/CIP4 homology-Bin/amphiphysin/Rvs (F-BAR) proteins (15), but how these proteins are anchored to the plasma membrane or organized into functional complexes in animal cells is unknown.Our understanding of the cytokinetic apparatus is most advanced in fission yeast (16). Only in fission yeast do we know the concentrations of the major cytokinesis proteins (17) and the time course of events leading to cellular division (18,19). Molecularly explicit computer models can account for both the ...

Two distinct classes of cortical nodes form separately during interphase in fission yeast cells and then merge at the cell equator by a diffuse-and-capture mechanism to prepare nodes to form the contractile ring for cytokinesis.

Rng2p is required for both the normal process of contractile ring formation from precursor nodes and an alternative mechanism by which rings form from strands of actin filaments, as well as for ring constriction. Systematic analysis of domain deletion mutants establishes how the four domains of Rng2p contribute to cytokinesis.

Active-site inhibitors of HIV-1 PR (protease) block viral replication by preventing viral maturation. However, HIV-1 often develops resistance to active-site inhibitors through multiple mutations in PR and therefore recent efforts have focused on inhibiting PR dimerization as an alternative approach. Dimerization inhibitors have been identified using kinetic analysis, but additional characterization of the effect of these inhibitors on PR by physical methods has been difficult. In the present study, we identified a PRMDR (multi-drug-resistant HIV-1 PR) that was highly resistant to autoproteolysis. Using this PR and a novel size-exclusion chromatographic approach that incorporated fluorescence and MS detection, we were able to demonstrate inhibition of dimerization using P27 (peptide 27), a peptide dimerization inhibitor of PR previously identified on the basis of kinetic analysis. Incubation of PRMDR with P27, or other dimerization inhibitors, led to a dose- and time-dependent formation of PR monomers based on the change in elution time by size exclusion and its similar elution time to engineered forms of monomeric PR, namely PRT26A and glutathionylated PR. In contrast, incubation of PRMDR with a potent active-site inhibitor did not change the elution time for the PRMDR dimer. The monomeric PR induced by P27 had fluorescent characteristics which were consistent with unfolded PR. Structure–activity studies identified the active regions of P27 and experiments were performed to examine the effect of other dimerization inhibitors on PR. The present study is the first characterization of dimerization inhibition of PRMDR, a prime target for these inhibitors, using a novel size-exclusion chromatographic approach.