Proper orientation of the mitotic spindle is essential during animal development for the generation of cell diversity and organogenesis. To understand the molecular mechanisms regulating this process, genetic studies have implicated evolutionarily conserved proteins that function in diverse cell types to align the spindle along an intrinsic cellular polarity axis. This activity is achieved through physical contacts between astral microtubules of the spindle and a distinct domain of force generating proteins on the cell cortex. In this work, I shed light on how these proteins form distinct cortical domains, how their activity is coupled to their subcellular localization, and how they provide cytoskeletal and motor protein connections that are required to generate the forces necessary to position the mitotic spindle.
I first discuss the mechanisms by which Mushroom body defect (Mud; NuMA in mammals), provides spindle orientation cues from various subcellular locations. Aside from its known role at the cortex as an adapter for the Dynein motor, I reveal novel isoform-dependent Mud functions at the spindle poles during assembly of the mitotic spindle and astral microtubules, thus implicating Mud in spindle orientation pathways away from the cell cortex. Moreover, through collaborative efforts with former lab members, I describe molecular regulation and assembly of two ‘accessory’ pathways that activate cortical Mud-Dynein, one through the tumor suppressor protein Discs large (Dlg), and another through the signaling protein Dishevelled (Dsh).
I demonstrate that the Dlg pathway is spatially regulated by the polarity kinase atypical Protein Kinase C (aPKC) through direct phosphorylation of Dlg. This signal relieves Dlg autoinhibition to promote cortical recruitment of the Dlg-ligand Gukholder (Gukh), a novel microtubule-binding protein that provides an additional connection between astral microtubules and the cortex that is essential for activity of the Dlg pathway. Lastly, I determine that the Dsh accessory pathway provides an alternative cytoskeletal cue by recruiting Diaphanous (Dia), an actin nucleating protein. By demonstrating interchangeability between the two accessory pathways, we conclude that Mud-Dynein is activated by various cytoskeletal cues and that the mode of activation is cell-context dependent.
This dissertation includes unpublished and previously published co-authored material. / 10000-01-01
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uoregon.edu/oai:scholarsbank.uoregon.edu:1794/20711 |
| Date | 21 November 2016 |
| Creators | Golub, Ognjen |
| Contributors | Prehoda, Kenneth |
| Publisher | University of Oregon |
| Source Sets | University of Oregon |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Rights | All Rights Reserved. |
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