The ESCRT machinery (composed of five different subfamilies: 0, I, II, III and VPS4) is designated as a system for membrane remodeling and scission inside cells. Cytosolic ESCRT-III proteins, the driving force for membrane fission, assemble into cortical filaments to induce membrane fission. During cytokinesis, the last step of cell division, the ESCRT machinery mediates constriction and fission of the intercellular membrane bridge that connects two daughter cells. Although the spatiotemporal organization of different ESCRT III proteins on the intercellular bridge was mapped using imaging techniques, many of the mechanistic steps that lead to ESCRT-mediated abscission remains unresolved. For example, it is unknown how ESCRT filament dynamically organizes inside the bridge to mediate abscission. In this study, we employ the super resolution microscopy techniques SIM and STORM to map the distribution of different ESCRT-III components inside the intercellular bridge. By mapping the organization of different ESCRT components on the intercellular bridge, relative to each other we aim to understand how ESCRT filaments modulate their composition during different stages of abscission. The results of this research will provide valuable information on the biophysical mechanism of membrane scission in the cell.
