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Vol. 19, Issue 6, 2553-2565, June 2008

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RAB-11 Permissively Regulates Spindle Alignment by Modulating Metaphase Microtubule Dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans Early Embryos

Haining Zhang^*,, Jayne M. Squirrell, and John G. White^,

*Laboratory of Genetics, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Department of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706

Submitted September 6, 2007; Revised March 18, 2008; Accepted March 24, 2008
Monitoring Editor: Sean Munro

Alignment of the mitotic spindle along a preformed axis of polarity is crucial for generating cell diversity in many organisms, yet little is known about the role of the endomembrane system in this process. RAB-11 is a small GTPase enriched in recycling endosomes. When we depleted RAB-11 by RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans, the spindle of the one-cell embryo failed to align along the axis of polarity in metaphase and underwent violent movements in anaphase. The distance between astral microtubules ends and the anterior cortex was significantly increased in rab-11(RNAi) embryos specifically during metaphase, possibly accounting for the observed spindle alignment defects. Additionally, we found that normal ER morphology requires functional RAB-11, particularly during metaphase. We hypothesize that RAB-11, in conjunction with the ER, acts to regulate cell cycle–specific changes in astral microtubule length to ensure proper spindle alignment in Caenorhabditis elegans early embryos.

Address correspondence to: John G. White (jwhite1{at}wisc.edu).

Abbreviations used: A-P, anterior-posterior; RNAi, RNA interference; G, subunit of the trimeric G protein; Gβ, β and subunit of the trimeric G protein; MT, microtubule; WT, wild-type; , deletion.

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