Presented By: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
MCDB Seminar: How to start a procentriole
Andrew B. Goryachev, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, University of Edinburgh
Centrioles are crucial cellular organelles that form cores of centrosomes and cilia. Centrioles must replicate once every cell cycle producing exactly one daughter centriole. Errors in replication mechanism can cause disease, such as microcephaly and cancer. I will present our theoretical model of the centriole initiation process. We postulate that a small module comprising a kinase PLK4 and its activator-substrate STIL/Ana2/SAS-5 is the core of the protein network responsible for the initiation of a procentriole. Our model recapitulates symmetry-breaking transition in the spatial localization of PLK4 from a symmetric ring surrounding mother centriole to a single spot marking the position of nascent procentriole. Importantly, our model predicts that induction of a single procentriole is not just an advantageous happenstance but the result of winner-takes-all competition between multiple centriolar loci for the PLK4-STIL complexes. Weakening of competition by overexpression of PLK4 and STIL causes progressive addition of supernumerary procentrioles, as has been observed experimentally.
Andrew Goryachev
Andrew’s computational cell biology lab studies biophysical mechanisms of intracellular morphogenesis and pattern formation by means of computational modeling (see http://goryachev.bio.ed.ac.uk/). With a background in physics and theoretical chemistry, Andrew is known for his work on cell polarity, excitability, and the pattern-forming role of small GTPases.
Host: Ann Miller
Andrew Goryachev
Andrew’s computational cell biology lab studies biophysical mechanisms of intracellular morphogenesis and pattern formation by means of computational modeling (see http://goryachev.bio.ed.ac.uk/). With a background in physics and theoretical chemistry, Andrew is known for his work on cell polarity, excitability, and the pattern-forming role of small GTPases.
Host: Ann Miller
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