Abstract
While cytokinesis has been intensely studied, how it is regulated and deployed during development is not well understood, despite a long-standing appreciation that various aspects of cytokinesis vary across cell and tissue types. To address this, we investigated cytokinesis during the invariant lineage of the C. elegans embryo. We show that several parameters of cytokinesis are reproducibly altered in different stages of the lineage. During the first two divisions, cells undergo consistent patterns of furrow ingression asymmetry and midbody inheritance, suggesting specific regulation of these events. Later during morphogenesis, in precursor cells of the intestine, pharynx, and amphid sensilla, we find several aspects of cytokinesis are altered including migration of midbodies from their site of formation to the apical surface during cellular polarization. In each case, Aurora B kinase remains associated with the apical membrane after internalization of other midbody components. Perturbations of cytokinesis disrupt lumen formation and dendrite formation. These data reveal that cytokinesis shows surprising diversity during development, and may regulate the final interphase architecture of a terminally dividing cell during morphogenesis.