We had a great winter to spring rotation with Peter Raymond-Smiedy in the lab! He worked on Cenexin’s role as a scaffold for the mitotic kinase, Polo Like Kinase 1 (PLK1) where he got to perform some sweet microscopy and live cell imaging. He even did our first virtual lab meeting on zoom!
Peter worked closely with our lab postbac scholar Michael Bates (on left in photo below) where they created with the help of Judy Freshour (lab manager) a CRISPR cenexin-null line. Way to go Peter and Mike!
Peter on right, and Mike Bates on left out celebrating Lindsay’s successful Ph.D. defense (before COVID-19)
Our paper is out! This study was lead by Lindsay Rathbun with many major contributions from past and current lab members and our collaborators Lisa Manning (SU) and Jeffrey Amack (SUNY Upstate). Its a really cool study demonstrating that the final step in cell division, cytokinesis and abscission, is needed for the lumen to form in the zebrafish left-right organizer. This transient tissue goes from a series of mesenchymal like migratory cells that divide and transition into polarized epithelial cells. Our team proposes a model that division assists in this process and the cytokinetic bridge, which can stay around for up to an hour, helps hold the cells in a transient rosette structure before they can initiate lumen formation. Check the paper out here at Nature Communications.
In cyan is a dividing cell interconnected by a cytokinetic bridge that is about to undergo abscission. Once the bridge abscises you can see the KV lumen open up! Magenta is labeling KV cells plasma membrane.
