The centrosome influences the shape, orientation and activity of the microtubule cytoskeleton. The pericentriolar material (PCM), determines this functionality by providing a dynamic platform for nucleating microtubules and acts as a nexus for molecular signaling. Although great strides have been made in understanding PCM activity, its diffraction-limited size and amorphous appearance on electron microscopy (EM) have limited analysis of its high-order organization. Here, we outline current knowledge of PCM architecture and assembly, emphasizing recent super-resolution imaging studies that revealed the PCM has a layered structure made of fibers and matrices conserved from flies to humans. Notably, these studies debunk the long-standing view of an amorphous PCM and provide a paradigm to dissect the supramolecular organization of organelles in cells.

Ninein (Nin) is a centrosomal protein whose gene is mutated in Seckel syndrome (SCKL, MIM 210600), an inherited recessive disease that results in primordial dwarfism, cognitive deficiencies, and increased sensitivity to genotoxic stress. Nin regulates neural stem cell self-renewal, interkinetic nuclear migration, and microtubule assembly in mammals. Nin is evolutionarily conserved, yet its role in cell division and development has not been investigated in a model organism. Here we characterize the single Nin orthologue in Drosophila Drosophila Nin localizes to the periphery of the centrosome but not at centriolar structures as in mammals. However, Nin shares the property of its mammalian orthologue of promoting microtubule assembly. In neural and germline stem cells, Nin localizes asymmetrically to the younger (daughter) centrosome, yet it is not required for the asymmetric division of stem cells. In wing epithelia and muscle, Nin localizes to noncentrosomal microtubule-organizing centers. Surprisingly, loss of nin expression from a nin mutant does not significantly affect embryonic and brain development, fertility, or locomotor performance of mutant flies or their survival upon exposure to DNA-damaging agents. Although it is not essential, our data suggest that Nin plays a supportive role in centrosomal and extracentrosomal microtubule organization and asymmetric stem cell division.

Assembly of appropriately oriented actin cables nucleated by formin proteins is necessary for many biological processes in diverse eukaryotes. However, compared with knowledge of how nucleation of dendritic actin filament arrays by the actin-related protein-2/3 complex is regulated, the in vivo regulatory mechanisms for actin cable formation are less clear. To gain insights into mechanisms for regulating actin cable assembly, we reconstituted the assembly process in vitro by introducing microspheres functionalized with the C terminus of the budding yeast formin Bni1 into extracts prepared from yeast cells at different cell-cycle stages. EM studies showed that unbranched actin filament bundles were reconstituted successfully in the yeast extracts. Only extracts enriched in the mitotic cyclin Clb2 were competent for actin cable assembly, and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 activity was indispensible. Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 activity also was found to regulate cable assembly in vivo. Here we present evidence that formin cell-cycle regulation is conserved in vertebrates. The use of the cable-reconstitution system to test roles for the key actin-binding proteins tropomyosin, capping protein, and cofilin provided important insights into assembly regulation. Furthermore, using mass spectrometry, we identified components of the actin cables formed in yeast extracts, providing the basis for comprehensive understanding of cable assembly and regulation.

Four-dimensional fluorescence microscopy--which records 3D image information as a function of time--provides an unbiased way of tracking dynamic behavior of subcellular components in living samples and capturing key events in complex macromolecular processes. Unfortunately, the combination of phototoxicity and photobleaching can severely limit the density or duration of sampling, thereby limiting the biological information that can be obtained. Although widefield microscopy provides a very light-efficient way of imaging, obtaining high-quality reconstructions requires deconvolution to remove optical aberrations. Unfortunately, most deconvolution methods perform very poorly at low signal-to-noise ratios, thereby requiring moderate photon doses to obtain acceptable resolution. We present a unique deconvolution method that combines an entropy-based regularization function with kernels that can exploit general spatial characteristics of the fluorescence image to push the required dose to extreme low levels, resulting in an enabling technology for high-resolution in vivo biological imaging.