Cytokinesis and the contractile ring in fission yeast: towards a systems-level understanding

Cytokinesis, the final stage of the cell division cycle, requires the proper placement, assembly and contraction of an actomyosin-based contractile ring. Conserved sets of cytokinesis proteins and pathways have now been identified and characterized functionally. Additionally, fluorescent protein fusion technology enables quantitative high-resolution imaging of protein dynamics in living cells. For these reasons, the study of cytokinesis is now ripe for quantitative, systems-level approaches. Here, we review our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of contractile ring dynamics in the model organism Schizosaccharomyces pombe (fission yeast), focusing on recent examples that illustrate a synergistic integration of quantitative experimental data with computational modeling. A picture of a highly dynamic and integrated system consisting of overlapping networks is beginning to emerge, the detailed nature of which remains to be elucidated.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant GM05683)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Samuel A. Goldblith Career Development Professorship)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Faculty startup funds