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Vol. 16, Issue 9, 4202-4213, September 2005

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The Terminal Phase of Cytokinesis in the Caenorhabditis elegans Early Embryo Requires Protein Glycosylation

Huan Wang ^*, Anne Spang , Mark A. Sullivan , Jennifer Hryhorenko ^*, and Fred K. Hagen ^*

^* Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Center for Oral Biology; Department of Pediatrics/Immunology/Allergy/Rheumatology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642; and Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, D-72076 Tuebingen, Germany

Submitted June 1, 2005; Revised June 13, 2005; Accepted June 20, 2005
Monitoring Editor: Reid Gilmore

RNA interference (RNAi) was used to characterize the requirement of protein glycosylation for cell membrane stability during cytokinesis in the early embryo. This screen targeted 13 enzymes or components of polypeptide sugar transferases that initiate either N-glycosylation or three different pathways of O-glycosylation. RNAi of genes in the mucin-type and epidermal growth factor-fringe glycosylation pathways did not affect cytokinesis. However, embryos deficient in N-glycosylation exhibited a variable inability to complete cytokinesis. The most potent block in early embryonic cell division was obtained by RNAi of the polypeptide xylose transferase (ppXyl-T), which is required to initiate the proteoglycan modification pathway. Two generations of ppXyl-T RNAi-feeding treatment reduced the body size, mobility, brood size, and life span of adult animals. Embryos escaping ppXyl-T and Gal-T2 RNAi lethality develop to adulthood but have cytokinesis-deficient offspring, suggesting that glycosyltransferases in the proteoglycan pathway are maternal proteins in the early embryo. Gal-T2::GFP fusions and anti-Gal-T2 antibodies revealed a perinuclear staining pattern, consistent with the localization of the Golgi apparatus. RNAi in green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged strains to follow tubulin, PIE-1, and chromatin showed that deficient proteoglycan biosynthesis uncouples the stability of newly formed cell membranes from cytokinesis, whereas cleavage furrow initiation, mitotic spindle function, karyokinesis, and partitioning of intrinsic components are intact.

The online version of this article contains supplemental material at MBC Online (http://www.molbiolcell.org).

Address correspondence to: Fred K. Hagen (fred_hagen{at}urmc.rochester.edu).

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