Glotzer Lab
The Glotzer Lab investigates questions in cell organization, focusing on mechanisms such as coordinating the contractile ring and spindle position, assembling cortical domains for cell polarization, and regulating cortical contractility during morphogenesis. They employ model systems like C. elegans, human cells, yeast, and Drosophila, combining forward and reverse genetics, biochemistry, and live cell imaging. Their research has notably characterized the centralspindlin complex, pivotal in cytokinesis regulation. Pioneering optogenetics methods, they have shown RhoA activation induces cleavage furrows independently of spindle position or cell cycle stage.
Michael Glotzer
Rina Iwata
Katrina Longhini-Aldis
Lara Chocolat
Amruta Nayak
Casey Dubose
Recent
Aurora A and cortical flows promote polarization and cytokinesis by inducing asymmetric ECT-2 accumulation (2022)
In the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, cell polarization and cytokinesis are interrelated yet distinct processes. Here, authors sought to understand a poorly understood aspect of cleavage furrow positioning. Early C. elegans embryos deficient in the cytokinetic regulator centralspindlin form furrows, due to an inhibitory activity that depends on aster positioning relative to the polar cortices. Scholars show polar relaxation is associated with depletion of cortical ECT-2, a RhoGEF, specifically at the posterior cortex. During both polarization and cytokinesis, results suggest that centrosomal AIR-1 breaks symmetry via ECT-2 phosphorylation; this local inhibition of ECT-2 is amplified by myosin-driven flows that generate regional ECT-2 asymmetry. Together, these mechanisms cooperate to induce polarized assembly of cortical myosin, contributing to both embryo polarization and cytokinesis.
Small GTPases modulate intrinsic and extrinsic forces that control epithelial folding in Drosophila embryos (2021)
Epithelial folding is a common means to execute morphogenetic movements. The gastrulating Drosophila embryo offers many examples of epithelial folding events, including the ventral, cephalic, and dorsal furrows. Each of these folding events is associated with changes in intracellular contractility and/or cytoskeleton structures that autonomously promote epithelial folding. Here, we review accumulating evidence that suggests the progression and final form of ventral, cephalic, and dorsal furrows are also influenced by the behaviour of cells neighbouring these folds. We further discuss the prevalence and importance of junctional rearrangements during epithelial folding events, suggesting adherens junction components are prime candidates to modulate the transmission of the intercellular forces that influence folding events. Finally, we discuss how recently developed methods that enable precise spatial and/or temporal control of protein activity allow direct testing of molecular models of morphogenesis in vivo.