ADP-ribosylation factor arf6p may function as a molecular switch of new end take off in fission yeast

Small GTPases act as molecular switches in a wide variety of cellular processes. In fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the directions of cell growth change from a monopolar manner to a bipolar manner, which is known as 'New End Take Off' (NETO). Here I report the identification of a gene, arf6+, encoding an ADP-ribosylation factor small GTPase, that may be essential for NETO. arf6Δ cells completely fail to undergo NETO. arf6p localizes at both cell ends and presumptive septa in a cell-cycle dependent manner. And its polarized localization is not dependent on microtubules, actin cytoskeletons and some NETO factors (bud6p, for3p, tea1p, tea3p, and tea4p). Notably, overexpression of a fast GDP/GTP-cycling mutant of arf6p can advance the timing of NETO. These findings suggest that arf6p functions as a molecular switch for the activation of NETO in fission yeast.