Open Collections

Hsu, Christina Rou

University of British Columbia

The cytokinetic contractile ring plays a crucial role in animal morphogenesis by spatially controlling its orientation and position along the body axis. Unilateral cytokinesis is one such event where the contractile ring closes asymmetrically to maintain tissue integrity in various developmental contexts. Previous research suggests that a concerted movement of the cell cortex, termed cortical flow, is also asymmetrically regulated during this process. However, the roles and regulations of cortical flow during cytokinesis remain unclear due to difficulties in imaging both the cell surface and the division plane. In this thesis, we addressed this question using Caenorhabditis elegans embryos as a model system. We developed computational and experimental methods to analyze both the cell surface and ring closure dynamics in an integrative manner. High-resolution 4D imaging of dividing cells revealed that mechanical suppression of ring-directed cortical flow is associated with asymmetric ring closure. Consistently, artificially suppressing ring-directed cortical flow in symmetrically dividing cells induces asymmetric ring closure. Overall, this study demonstrated that ring closure asymmetry is controlled by the mechanosensitive action of the contractile ring.

Text

2024-05-09

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88268

Zoology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/