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MOR1/GEM1 has an essential role in the plant-specific cytokinetic phragmoplast

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Abstract

MOR1 is a member of the MAP215 family of microtubule-associated proteins and is required to establish interphase arrays of cortical microtubules in plant cells1. Here we show that MOR1 binds microtubules in vivo, localizing to both cortical microtubules and to areas of overlapping microtubules in the phragmoplast. Genetic complementation of the cytokinesis-defective gemini pollen 1-1 (gem1-1) mutation with MOR1 shows that MOR1 (which is synonymous with the protein GEM1) is essential in cytokinesis. Phenotypic analysis of gem1-1 and gem1-2, which contains a T-DNA insertion, confirm that MOR1/GEM1 is essential for regular patterns of cytokinesis. Both the gem1-1 and gem1-2 mutations cause the truncation of the MOR1/GEM1 protein. In addition, the carboxy-terminal domain of the protein, which is absent in both mutants, binds microtubules in vitro. Our data show that MOR1/GEM1 has an essential role in the cytokinetic phragmoplast.

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Figure 1: MOR1 associates with microtubules and oryzalin-induced tubulin aggregates.
Figure 2: gem1-2 shows a defective cytokinesis phenotype.
Figure 3: Gene and protein structure of MOR1/GEM1.
Figure 4: The C terminus of MOR1/GEM1 binds to porcine brain microtubules.

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Accessions

GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ

Data deposits

  • The wild-type genomic sequence of MOR1/GEM1 is deposited in GenBank under accession number AY124770.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Wasteneys for the MOR1 sequencing primers. This work was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK.

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Author notes

  1. David Twell, Soon Ki Park, Timothy J. Hawkins, Daniel Schubert and Renate Schmidt: These authors contributed equally to this paper

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    David Twell & Soon Ki Park

  2. The Integrative Cell Biology laboratory, School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Timothy J. Hawkins, Andrei Smertenko & Patrick J. Hussey

  3. Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, 14424, Germany

    Daniel Schubert & Renate Schmidt

Authors
  1. David Twell
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  2. Soon Ki Park
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  3. Timothy J. Hawkins
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  6. Andrei Smertenko
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  7. Patrick J. Hussey
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Correspondence to David Twell.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Twell, D., Park, S., Hawkins, T. et al. MOR1/GEM1 has an essential role in the plant-specific cytokinetic phragmoplast. Nat Cell Biol 4, 711–714 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb844

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