Multifunctional cytokinesis genes in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

The proper division of cells is essential for the production of viable daug hter cells. In plants and fungi, the dividing cell produces a cross-wall or septum that bisects the cytoplasm. For separation of the daughter cells, t he septum has to be cleaved. To study the regulation of this process, we is olated mutants defective in septum cleavage. The mutants showed highly plei otropic phenotypes and defined 17 novel genes. The deduced amino acid seque nces of the products of the cloned genes exhibited homologies to various tr anscription regulators of other organisms. The homologies and the pleiotrop ic effects of the mutations on sexual development, stress response, mitotic stability, septum initiation and septum placement indicated that these gen es affect cell separation indirectly, through multifunctional regulatory mo dules.