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. 2011 Jan;4(1):1-9.
doi: 10.4161/cib.4.1.13550.

Structure and functions of stable intercellular bridges formed by incomplete cytokinesis during development

Kaisa Haglund  1 , Ioannis P Nezis, Harald Stenmark
Affiliations

Structure and functions of stable intercellular bridges formed by incomplete cytokinesis during development

Kaisa Haglund et al. Commun Integr Biol. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

Cytokinesis, the final step of cell division, normally proceeds to completion in living organisms, so that daughter cells physically separate by abscission. In certain tissues and developmental stages, on the other hand, the cytokinesis process is incomplete, giving rise to cells interconnected in syncytia by stable intercellular bridges. This evolutionarily conserved physiological process occurs in the female and male germline in species ranging from insects to humans, and has also been observed in some somatic tissues in invertebrates. Stable intercellular bridges have fascinated cell biologists ever since they were first described more than 50 years ago, and even though substantial progress has been made concerning their ultrastructure and molecular composition, much remains to be understood about their biological functions. Another major question is by which mechanisms complete versus incomplete cytokinesis is determined. In this mini-review we will try to give an overview of the current knowledge about the structure, composition and functions of stable intercellular bridges, and discuss recent insights into the molecular control of the incomplete cytokinesis process.

Keywords: MKLP1; Pav-Klp; anillin; cindr; cytokinesis; incomplete cytokinesis; intercellular communication; oogenesis; ring canal; spermatogenesis; stable intercellular bridge.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Stable intercellular bridges in the Drosophila melanogaster female germline. (A) Schematic overview of Drosophila oogenesis, the germarium and incomplete cytokinesis of germ cells in the germarium. Cleavage furrows and ring canals are schematically shown in black. Details are described in the text. (B) Confocal micrograph of an early stage 9 wild-type Drosophila melanogaster egg chamber stained with phalloidin-FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate) (green) and propidium iodide (red) for visualizing filamentous actin and nuclei, respectively. Scale bar: 35 µm. (C) Confocal micrograph of a late stage 9 wild-type Drosophila melanogaster egg chamber stained with phalloidin-FITC for visualizing filamentous actin. The image is a projection of a z-stack of 18 serial sections of 2 µm thickness each. Scale bar: 15 µm. (D) Light micrograph of a 1 µm thick resin section stained with toluidine blue. It illustrates the anterior pole of a wild-type stage 11 Drosophila melanogaster egg chamber. Bipolar arrows: Ring canals, (F) follicle cell, (N) nurse cell. Scale bar: 10 µm. (E–G) Transmission electron micrographs of a stage 6 wild-type olive fruit fly Dacus oleae egg chamber. (E) illustrates a ring canal in longitudinal section. Arrows point to the ring canal edges. (F and G) are higher magnifications of the ring canal edges shown in (E). Arrows in (F and G) point to ring canal rims. Scale bars: (E) 1 µm; (F and G) 0.5 µm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Stable intercellular bridges in somatic Drosophila tissues. (A) Stable intercellular bridges in the Drosophila melanogaster follicle cell epithelium. Left and middle: Cross section through a stage 8 egg chamber (left) and a superficial section through the follicle cell epithelium of the same egg chamber (middle) showing stable intercellular bridges (arrowheads) between cells detected with antibodies against the bridge component Cindr (green). Rhodamine-phalloidin was used to visualize F-actin (red). Scale bars: 10 µm (left) and 5 µm (middle). Right: Electron micrograph showing a longitudinal section through a stable intercellular bridge of a stage 8 egg chamber. The electron dense outer rim is evident (arrowhead) and a less electron dense inner rim (arrow) is also seen. Scale bar: 250 nm. (B) Stable intercellular bridges in the Drosophila melanogaster wing disc epithelium. Left: Stable intercellular bridges (arrowheads) in a wing disc epithelium are labeled with antibodies against the bridge component Cindr. Scale bar: 20 µm. Middle: Stable intercellular bridges (arrowheads) containing Cindr (green) are present at cell borders labeled by Dlg (red). Nuclear DNA was labeled with Hoechst (pseudo-colored blue). Scale bar: 5 µm. Right: Electron micrograph showing a longitudinal section through an intercellular bridge in the wing disc epithelium. The electron dense outer rim (arrowhead) and the less electron dense inner rim (arrow) are evident. Scale bar: 250 nm.
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