Cytoskeletal polarization and cytokinetic signaling drives polar lobe formation in spiralian embryos

Abstract

In many spiralians, asymmetry in the first two cleavages is achieved through the formation of a polar lobe (PL), which transiently constricts to sequester vegetal cytoplasm into the CD and D blastomeres. While microtubules and actin filaments are required for polar lobe formation, little else is known regarding the structural and functional similarities with the contractile ring, or how the PL constriction is able to form perpendicular to the cleavage plane. Examination of scallop embryos revealed that while activated myosin II could be detected in both the cleavage furrow and early PL constriction, astral or central spindle microtubules were not observed associated with the PL neck until the constriction was nearly complete. Further, inhibition of Aurora B had no effect on polar lobe initiation, but blocked both contractile ring ingression and PL constriction beyond phase II. The cortex destined for PL sequestration was marked by enrichment of the Arp2/3 complex, which was first detected during meiosis and remained enriched at the vegetal pole through the first two cleavages. Inhibition of Arp2/3 affected PL formation and partitioning of cytoplasm into the two daughter cells, suggesting that Arp2/3 plays a functional role in defining the zone of cortex to be sequestered into the polar lobe. Together, these data offer for the first time a mechanism by which a cytoskeletal specialization defines the polar lobe in this atypical form of asymmetric cell division.