Septins are conserved filament-forming proteins that assemble into cortical cytoskeletal structures in animal and fungal cells. In budding yeast, in preparation for bud formation, the GTPase Cdc42p organizes septins into a ring that later forms a collar at the mother-bud neck. Daniel Lew and colleagues have investigated the interplay between septin organization, the cell cycle and cell shape by dissecting the phenotype of yeast cdc42V36T,K94E cells, in which an aberrant cell shape correlates with the development of ectopic septin caps and rings within the bud (see p. 1617). Their analysis indicates that this phenotype results from the interaction of several parallel pathways that are affected by the loss of septin integrity, including pathways affecting cell-wall deposition, cell-cycle control and cell polarity. It also reveals that the septin collar in wild-type cells helps to shape the nascent bud and inhibits the assembly of ectopic septin rings. Finally, the authors...

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