TY - JOUR TI - Curvature-induced expulsion of actomyosin bundles during cytokinetic ring contraction AU - Huang, Junqi AU - Chew, Ting Gang AU - Gu, Ying AU - Palani, Saravanan AU - Kamnev, Anton AU - Martin, Douglas S AU - Carter, Nicholas J AU - Cross, Robert Anthony AU - Oliferenko, Snezhana AU - Balasubramanian, Mohan K A2 - Hyman, Anthony A VL - 5 PY - 2016 DA - 2016/10/13 SP - e21383 C1 - eLife 2016;5:e21383 DO - 10.7554/eLife.21383 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21383 AB - Many eukaryotes assemble a ring-shaped actomyosin network that contracts to drive cytokinesis. Unlike actomyosin in sarcomeres, which cycles through contraction and relaxation, the cytokinetic ring disassembles during contraction through an unknown mechanism. Here we find in Schizosaccharomyces japonicus and Schizosaccharomyces pombe that, during actomyosin ring contraction, actin filaments associated with actomyosin rings are expelled as micron-scale bundles containing multiple actomyosin ring proteins. Using functional isolated actomyosin rings we show that expulsion of actin bundles does not require continuous presence of cytoplasm. Strikingly, mechanical compression of actomyosin rings results in expulsion of bundles predominantly at regions of high curvature. Our work unprecedentedly reveals that the increased curvature of the ring itself promotes its disassembly. It is likely that such a curvature-induced mechanism may operate in disassembly of other contractile networks. KW - cytokinesis KW - Schizosaccharomyces pombe KW - actomyosin ring KW - curvature KW - Schizosaccharomyces japonicus JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -