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First published online 4 April 2007
doi: 10.1242/dev.02831

Development 134, 1737-1744 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
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grp (chk1) replication-checkpoint mutations and DNA damage trigger a Chk2-dependent block at the Drosophila midblastula transition

Saeko Takada*, Seongae Kwak, Birgit S. Koppetsch and William E. Theurkauf{dagger}

Program in Molecular Medicine, Program in Cell Dynamics, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 373 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.

{dagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: william.theurkauf{at}umassmed.edu)

Accepted 12 February 2007

The 13 syncytial cleavage divisions that initiate Drosophila embryogenesis are under maternal genetic control. The switch to zygotic regulation of development at the midblastula transition (MBT) follows mitosis 13, when the cleavage divisions terminate, transcription increases and the blastoderm cellularizes. Embryos mutant for grp, which encodes Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), are DNA-replication-checkpoint defective and fail to cellularize, gastrulate or to initiate high-level zygotic transcription at the MBT. The mnk (also known as loki) gene encodes Checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2), which functions in DNA-damage signal transduction. We show that mnk grp double-mutant embryos are replication-checkpoint defective but cellularize, gastrulate and activate high levels of zygotic gene expression. We also show that grp mutant embryos accumulate DNA double-strand breaks and that DNA-damaging agents induce a mnk-dependent block to cellularization and zygotic gene expression. We conclude that the DNA-replication checkpoint maintains genome integrity during the cleavage divisions, and that checkpoint mutations lead to DNA damage that induces a novel Chk2-dependent block at the MBT.

Key words: DNA damage, MBT, Transcription, Cellularization, Drosophila




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