Cleavage furrow formation in animal cells results from a local increase in cortical contractility. During anaphase, the spindle contains, in addition to astral arrays of microtubules, a set of bundled microtubules known as the central spindle. Each of these populations of microtubules, the astral arrays and the central spindle bundles, is sufficient to direct cleavage furrow formation, yet in w...

Experiments on model systems have revealed that cytokinesis in cells with contractile rings (amoebas, fungi, and animals) depends on shared molecular mechanisms in spite of some differences that emerged during a billion years of divergent evolution. Understanding these fundamental mechanisms depends on identifying the participating proteins and characterizing the mechanisms that position the fu...

Many of the same genes needed for proper eye and limb development in vertebrates, such as hairy, hedgehog, patched and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A, are responsible for patterning Drosophila imaginal discs, the tissues that will give rise to the adult cuticle structures. This is well demonstrated in the control of morphogenetic furrow movement and differentiation in the eye imaginal di...

Completion of cell division during cytokinesis requires temporally and spatially regulated communication from the microtubule cytoskeleton to the actin cytoskeleton and the cell membrane. We identified a specific inhibitor of nonmuscle myosin II, blebbistatin, that inhibited contraction of the cleavage furrow without disrupting mitosis or contractile ring assembly. Using blebbistatin and other ...

in order to improve the efficiency of irrigation systems and investigate their impact on the pest population levels, furrow and sprinkler irrigation systems were compared in sugar beet fields. in this study, three different fields were chosen and irrigated by one of the furrow, classic and center pivot irrigation systems.  in each field, 20 plots were randomly selected of which 10 plots were ma...

high efficiency and uniformity of water and fertilizer application are usually, considered as the ultimate goals of an appropriate design and management of irrigation and fertigation systems. the objective followed in this paper was to present a simulation-optimization model for alternate vs. conventional furrow fertigation. two simulation models (surface fertigation and swms-2d models) along w...

Furrow irrigation detaches and transports soil particles and subsequently nutrients such as phosphorus (P). To reduce the risk of erosion and offsite P movement, producers can convert from furrow to sprinkler irrigation. We completed research on soil P dynamics in furrow versus sprinkler irrigated soils from four paired fields in south central Idaho. Surface soils (0-2.5 inches) were obtained f...

Successful cleavage of animal cells requires co-ordinated regulation of the actomyosin contractile ring and cleavage furrow ingression. Data from a variety of systems implicate phosphoinositol lipids and calcium release as potential regulators of this fundamental process. Here we examine the requirement for various steps of the phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) cycle in dividing crane fly (Nephroto...

At anaphase, the mitotic spindle positions the cytokinesis furrow [1]. Two populations of spindle microtubules are implicated in cytokinesis: radial microtubule arrays called asters and bundled nonkinetochore microtubules called the spindle midzone [2-4]. In C. elegans embryos, these two populations of microtubules provide two consecutive signals that position the cytokinesis furrow: The first ...