No abstract

The ESCRT pathway helps mediate the final abscission step of cytokinesis in mammals and archaea. In mammals, two early acting proteins of the ESCRT pathway, ALIX and TSG101, are recruited to the midbody through direct interactions with the phosphoprotein CEP55. CEP55 resides at the centrosome through most of the cell cycle but then migrates to the midbody at the start of cytokinesis, suggesting that the ESCRT pathway may also have centrosomal links. Here, we have systematically analyzed the requirements for late-acting mammalian ESCRT-III and VPS4 proteins at different stages of mitosis and cell division. We found that depletion of VPS4A, VPS4B, or any of the 11 different human ESCRT-III (CHMP) proteins inhibited abscission. Remarkably, depletion of individual ESCRT-III and VPS4 proteins also altered centrosome and spindle pole numbers, producing multipolar spindles (most ESCRT-III/VPS4 proteins) or monopolar spindles (CHMP2A or CHMP5) and causing defects in chromosome segregation and nuclear morphology. VPS4 proteins concentrated at spindle poles during mitosis and then at midbodies during cytokinesis, implying that these proteins function directly at both sites. We conclude that ESCRT-III/VPS4 proteins function at centrosomes to help regulate their maintenance or proliferation and then at midbodies during abscission, thereby helping ensure the ordered progression through the different stages of cell division.T he ESCRT pathway functions across eukaryotes and many archaeal species, where it helps mediate (i) vesicle formation at multivesicular bodies (MVB) (1), (ii) enveloped virus budding (2), and (iii) the abscission stage of cytokinesis (3-7). These seemingly disparate biological processes all involve the resolution of thin, cytoplasm-filled membrane tubules, implying that ESCRT machinery can be recruited to different biological membranes to mediate topologically similar membrane fission events. Most ESCRT pathway proteins function as subunits of five multiprotein complexes, termed the ESCRT-0, -I, -II, -III, and VPS4 complexes. Other ESCRT factors, such as ALIX, function as discrete proteins. Classic studies in yeast have established that the ESCRT components are recruited sequentially to endosomal membranes where they assemble into higher order complexes that mediate protein sorting, membrane remodeling, and fission (8). Initially, early-acting factors such as ESCRT-I, ESCRT-II, and ALIX interact with upstream recruiting factors, concentrate protein cargoes, and help deform membranes (9). These early-acting factors recruit subunits of the ESCRT-III complex, which form filaments within the necks of membrane tubules and mediate membrane fission (10-16). ESCRT-III assemblies, in turn, recruit VPS4 ATPases, which use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to disassemble the ESCRT complexes (10-14, 17).ESCRT-III and VPS4 homologs mediate abscission in hyperthermophilic crenarchaeal species that diverged from eukaryotes several billion years ago, suggesting that cell division may have been the primordial function of the E...

Mitochondrial division requires coordinated interactions among Fis1p, Mdv1p, and the Dnm1p GTPase, which assemble into fission complexes on the outer mitochondrial membrane. The integral outer membrane protein Fis1p contains a cytoplasmic domain consisting of a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)–like fold and a short NH2-terminal helix. Although it is known that the cytoplasmic domain is necessary for assembly of Mdv1p and Dnm1p into fission complexes, the molecular details of this assembly are not clear. In this study, we provide new evidence that the Fis1p–Mdv1p interaction is direct. Furthermore, we show that conditional mutations in the Fis1p TPR-like domain cause fission complex assembly defects that are suppressed by mutations in the Mdv1p-predicted coiled coil. We also define separable functions for the Fis1p NH2-terminal arm and TPR-like fold. These studies suggest that the concave binding surface of the Fis1p TPR-like fold interacts with Mdv1p during mitochondrial fission and that Mdv1p facilitates Dnm1p recruitment into functional fission complexes.

The cellular ESCRT pathway drives membrane constriction toward the cytosol and effects membrane fission during cytokinesis, endosomal sorting, and the release of many enveloped viruses, including HIV. A component of this pathway, the AAA ATPase Vps4, provides energy for pathway progression. Although it is established that Vps4 functions as an oligomer, subunit stoichiometry and other fundamental features of the functional enzyme are unclear. Higher-order oligomers have thus far only been characterized for a Walker B mutant of Vps4 in the presence of ATP. Here, we report that although some mutant Vps4 proteins form dodecameric assemblies, active wild-type S. cerevisiae and S. solfataricus Vps4 enzymes can form hexamers in the presence of ATP and ADP, as assayed by size exclusion chromatography and equilibrium analytical ultracentifugation. The Vta1p activator binds hexameric yeast Vps4p without changing the oligomeric state of Vps4p, implying that the active Vta1p:Vps4p complex also contains a single hexameric ring. Additionally, we report crystal structures of two different archaeal Vps4 homologs, whose structures and lattice interactions suggest a conserved mode of oligomerization. Disruption of the proposed hexamerization interface by mutagenesis abolished the ATPase activity of archaeal Vps4 proteins and blocked Vps4p function in S. cerevisiae. These data challenge the prevailing model that active Vps4 is a double ring dodecamer, and argue that, like other type I AAA ATPases, Vps4 functions as a single ring with six subunits.

Interactions between yeast Dnm1p, Mdv1p, and Fis1p are required to form fission complexes that catalyze division of the mitochondrial compartment. During the formation of mitochondrial fission complexes, the Dnm1p GTPase self-assembles into large multimeric complexes on the outer mitochondrial membrane that are visualized as punctate structures by fluorescent labeling. Although it is clear that Fis1p⅐Mdv1p complexes on mitochondria are required for the initial recruitment of Dnm1p, it is not clear whether Dnm1p puncta assemble before or after this recruitment step. Here we show that the minimum oligomeric form of cytoplasmic Dnm1p is a dimer. The middle domain mutant protein Dnm1 G385D p forms dimers in vivo but fails to assemble into punctate structures. However, this dimeric mutant stably interacts with Mdv1p on the outer mitochondrial membrane, demonstrating that assembly of stable Dnm1p multimers is not required for Dnm1p-Mdv1p association or for mitochondrial recruitment of Dnm1p. Dnm1 G385D p is reported to be a terminal dimer in vitro. We describe conditions that allow assembly of Dnm1 G385D p into functional fission complexes on mitochondria in vivo. Using these conditions, we demonstrate that multimerization of Dnm1p is required to promote reorganization of Mdv1p from a uniform mitochondrial localization into punctate fission complexes. Our studies also reveal that Fis1p is present in these assembled fission complexes. Based on our results, we propose that Dnm1p dimers are initially recruited to the membrane via interaction with Mdv1p⅐Fis1p complexes. These dimers then assemble into multimers that subsequently promote the reorganization of Mdv1p into punctate fission complexes.