The initial expansion of the C. elegans syncytial germ line is coupled to incomplete primordial germ cell cytokinesis

Jack Bauer, Vincent Poupart, Eugénie Goupil, Ken C.Q. Nguyen, David H. Hall, Jean Claude Labbé

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The C. elegans germline is organized as a syncytium in which each germ cell possesses an intercellular bridge that is maintained by a stable actomyosin ring and connected to a common pool of cytoplasm, termed the rachis. How germ cells undergo cytokinesis while maintaining this syncytial architecture is not completely understood. Here, we use live imaging to characterize primordial germ cell (PGC) division in C. elegans first-stage larvae. We show that each PGC possesses a stable intercellular bridge that connects it to a common pool of cytoplasm, which we term the proto-rachis. We further show that the first PGC cytokinesis is incomplete and that the stabilized cytokinetic ring progressively moves towards the proto-rachis and eventually integrates with it. Our results support a model in which the initial expansion of the C. elegans syncytial germline occurs by incomplete cytokinesis, where one daughter germ cell inherits the actomyosin ring that was newly formed by stabilization of the cytokinetic ring, while the other inherits the pre-existing stable actomyosin ring. We propose that such a mechanism of iterative cytokinesis incompletion underpins C. elegans germline expansion and maintenance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalDevelopment (Cambridge)
Volume148
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Actomyosin
  • C. elegans germline development
  • Incomplete cytokinesis
  • Primordial germ cells
  • Stable intercellular bridge
  • Syncytium expansion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Developmental Biology

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