1. Academic Validation
  2. Self-organization of Plk4 regulates symmetry breaking in centriole duplication

Self-organization of Plk4 regulates symmetry breaking in centriole duplication

  • Nat Commun. 2019 Apr 18;10(1):1810. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09847-x.
Shohei Yamamoto 1 2 Daiju Kitagawa 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
  • 3 Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan. dkitagawa@mol.f.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Abstract

During centriole duplication, a single daughter centriole is formed next to the mother centriole. The molecular mechanism that determines a single duplication site remains a long-standing question. Here, we show that intrinsic self-organization of PLK4 is implicated in symmetry breaking in the process of centriole duplication. We demonstrate that PLK4 has an ability to phase-separate into condensates via an intrinsically disordered linker and that the condensation properties of PLK4 are regulated by autophosphorylation. Consistently, the dissociation dynamics of centriolar PLK4 are controlled by autophosphorylation. We further found that autophosphorylated PLK4 is already distributed as a single focus around the mother centriole before the initiation of procentriole formation, and is subsequently targeted for STIL-HsSAS6 loading. Perturbation of PLK4 self-organization affects the asymmetry of centriolar PLK4 distribution and proper centriole duplication. Overall, we propose that the spatial pattern formation of PLK4 is a determinant of a single duplication site per mother centriole.

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