Resolving ESCRT-III spirals at the intercellular bridge of dividing cells using 3D STORM imaging

Abstract

The ESCRT machinery mediates membrane fission in a verity of processes in cells. According to the proposed mechanism, ESCRT-III proteins drive membrane fission by assembling into helical filaments on membranes. Yet, ESCRT-III filaments have never been directly visualized in a cellular process that utilizes this machinery for its function. Here we used 3D STORM imaging of endogenous ESCRT-III component IST1, to describe the structural organization of ESCRT-III during mammalian cytokinetic abscission. Using this approach, ESCRT-III ring and spiral assemblies were resolved at the intercellular tube of cells undergoing abscission. Characterization of these structures indicates the ESCRT-III helical filament undergoes remodeling during abscission. This work provides the first evidence that ESCRT-III proteins assemble into helical filaments in physiological context, indicating that the ESCRT-III machine indeed derives its contractile activity through spiral assemblies. Moreover, it provides new structural information on ESCRT-III filaments, which raise new mechanistic scenarios for ESCRT driven membrane constriction.