Abstract.
To study the mitosis-specific phosphorylation of caldesmon (CaD), we generated a mutant of the C-terminal fragment (amino acids 244–538) of human fibroblast CaD (CaD39-6F), as well as a mutant of the full-length CaD (CaD-6F), in which all six potential phosphorylation sites for Cdc2 kinase were abolished. The mitotic CaD39-6F-overexpressing cells required more time to progress from anaphase start to 50% cytokinesis, exhibited larger size, and abnormally formed numerous small blebs. In contrast, overexpression of the wild-type C-terminal fragment of CaD (CaD39) did not result in abnormal bleb formation, but led to larger size and prolonged the time requirement between anaphase start and 50% cytokinesis. Similar abnormal blebs were also observed in the CaD-6F-overexpressing cells. CaD-6F-overexpressing cells did not show larger size but required more time to progress from anaphase start to 50% cytokinesis. These results suggest that mitosis-specific phosphorylation of CaD plays a role in inhibiting bleb formation and that the N-terminal fragment of CaD is required for cell size determination.
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Received 4 September 2002; received after revision 25 November 2002; accepted 4 December 2002
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Li, Y., Wessels, D., Wang, T. et al. Regulation of caldesmon activity by Cdc2 kinase plays an important role in maintaining membrane cortex integrity during cell division. CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 60, 198–211 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s000180300014
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s000180300014