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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Boguslaw ObaraORCiD
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Cell polarization and fusion are crucial developmental processes that occur in response to intracellular and extracellular signals. Asexual spores (conidia) of the mold Neurospora crassa differentiate two types of polarized cell protrusions, germ tubes and conidial anastomosis tubes (CATs), which exhibit negative and positive chemotropism, respectively. We provide the first evidence that shared and separate functions of the Rho-type GTPases CDC- 42 and RAC-1 regulate these opposite chemotropisms. We demonstrate that RAC-1 is essential for CAT formation and cell fusion, whereas CDC-42 is necessary and sufficient for normal germ tube development. Cdc42-Rac-interactive-binding (CRIB) reporters were constructed to exclusively label locally activated GTP-bound GTPases. Time course analyses showed that repositioning of these activated GTPase clusters within germ tube and CAT tip apices controls directional growth in the absence of a tip-localized vesicle supply center (Spitzenkö rper). We propose a model in which the local assembly of a plasma-membraneassociated GTPase-PAK-MAPK signaling platform regulates chemoattractant perception and secretion in order to synchronize oscillatory cell-cell communication and directional CAT tip growth. © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
Author(s): Lichius A, Goryachev AB, Fricker MD, Obara B, Castro-Longoria E, Read ND
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Cell Science
Year: 2014
Volume: 127
Issue: 9
Pages: 1953-1965
Print publication date: 01/04/2014
Acceptance date: 13/01/2014
ISSN (print): 0021-9533
ISSN (electronic): 1477-9137
Publisher: Company of Biologists Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.141630
DOI: 10.1242/jcs.141630
PubMed id: 24790223
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