The growing tips of Candida albicans hyphae are sites of polarized exocytosis. Mammalian septins have been implicated in regulating exocytosis and C. albicans septins are known to localize at hyphal tips, although their function here is unknown. Here, we report that C. albicans cells deleted of the exocyst subunit gene SEC3 can grow normal germ tubes, but are unable to maintain tip growth after...

Asymmetric cell division plays a crucial role in cell differentiation, unequal replicative senescence, and stem cell maintenance. In budding yeast, the identities of mother and daughter cells begin to diverge at bud emergence when distinct plasma-membrane domains are formed and separated by a septin ring. However, the mechanisms underlying this transformation remain unknown. Here, we show that ...

Microtentacles are mostly microtubule-based cell protrusions that are formed by detached tumor cells. Here, we report that the formation of tumor cell microtentacles depends on the presence and dynamics of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins of the septin family, which are part of the cytoskeleton. In matrix-attached breast, lung, prostate and pancreas cancer cells, septins are associated with ...

newly determined structure of a filament-forming protein from bacteria is eerily similar to that of eukaryotic actin. The bacterial protein, MreB, was known to affect cell shape in bacteria; Escherichia coli that lack MreB are spherical rather than rod-shaped. In March of this year, Jeffery Errington and colleagues (University of Oxford, UK) reported that filamentous helical A Actin (left) and ...

newly determined structure of a filament-forming protein from bacteria is eerily similar to that of eukaryotic actin. The bacterial protein, MreB, was known to affect cell shape in bacteria; Escherichia coli that lack MreB are spherical rather than rod-shaped. In March of this year, Jeffery Errington and colleagues (University of Oxford, UK) reported that filamentous helical A Actin (left) and ...

Upon nutrient limitation, budding yeasts like Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be induced to adopt alternate filament-like growth patterns called diploid pseudohyphal or invasive haploid growth. Here, we report a novel constitutive pseudohyphal growth state, sharing some characteristics with classic forms of filamentous growth, but differing in crucial aspects of morphology, growth conditions and g...

BACKGROUND Septins are a highly conserved family of GTP-binding proteins involved in multiple cellular functions, including cell division and morphogenesis. Studies of septins in fungal cells underpin a clear correlation between septin-based structures and fungal morphology, providing clues to understand the molecular frame behind the varied morphologies found in fungal world. METHODOLOGY/PRI...