cell cycle regulated MAP kinase with a possible role in cytokinesis in tobacco cells

• Published in: Journal of cell science Vol. 111; no. 20; pp. 3091 - 3100
• Main Authors: Calderini, O, Bogre, L, Vicente, O, Binarova, P, Heberle-Bors, E, Wilson, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.10.1998
• Subjects: Anaphase; Benzamides - pharmacology; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases - analysis; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases - immunology; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases - metabolism; Cell Cycle Proteins; Cell Line; Cyclin-Dependent Kinases - antagonists & inhibitors; Enzyme Activation; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Immunoblotting; Metaphase; Microtubules - physiology; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; Mitosis; Nicotiana - cytology; Nicotiana - drug effects; Nicotiana - enzymology; Nicotiana tabacum; nitogen activated protein kinase; Nitrobenzenes; Organothiophosphorus Compounds - pharmacology; Paclitaxel - pharmacology; Plant Proteins - analysis; Plant Proteins - immunology; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants, Toxic; Protein Kinases - metabolism; Purines - pharmacology; Roscovitine; Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; Telophase
• ISSN: 0021-9533; 1477-9137
• DOI: 10.1242/jcs.111.20.3091

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases have been demonstrated to have a role in meiosis but their involvement in mitotic events is less clear. Using a peptide antibody raised against the tobacco MAP kinase p43(Ntf6) and extracts from synchronized tobacco cell suspension cultures, we show that this kinase is activated specifically during mitosis. Entry into mitosis appears to be necessary for the activation of the kinase, which occurs as a post-translational event. The activation of the kinase occurs in late anaphase/early telophase. The p43(Ntf6) protein shows a transient localization to the cell plate in anaphase cells, in the middle of the two microtubule arrays characteristic of the phragmoplast, a plant-specific structure involved in laying down the new cell wall. The combined data support a role for the MAP kinase p43(Ntf6) in cytokinesis in tobacco cells.