spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 28 August 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.022624

Development 135, 3239-3246 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
dev.022624v1
135/19/3239    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Colombié, N.
Right arrow Articles by Ohkura, H.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Colombié, N.
Right arrow Articles by Ohkura, H.

Dual roles of Incenp crucial to the assembly of the acentrosomal metaphase spindle in female meiosis

Nathalie Colombié1, C. Fiona Cullen1, Amy L. Brittle1, Janet K. Jang2, William C. Earnshaw1, Mar Carmena1, Kim McKim2 and Hiroyuki Ohkura1,*

1 Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JR, UK.
2 Waksman Institute and Department of Genetics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020, USA.

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: h.ohkura{at}ed.ac.uk)

Accepted 7 August 2008

Spindle formation in female meiosis differs from mitosis in many animals, as it takes place independently of centrosomes, and the molecular requirements of this pathway remain to be understood. Here, we report two crucial roles of Incenp, an essential subunit of the chromosomal passenger complex (the Aurora B complex), in centrosome-independent spindle formation in Drosophila female meiosis. First, the initial assembly of spindle microtubules is drastically delayed in an incenp mutant. This clearly demonstrates, for the first time, a crucial role for Incenp in chromosome-driven spindle microtubule assembly in living oocytes. Additionally, Incenp is necessary to stabilise the equatorial region of the metaphase I spindle, in contrast to mitosis, where the equivalent function becomes prominent after anaphase onset. Our analysis suggests that Subito, a kinesin-6 protein, cooperates with Incenp for this latter function, but not in microtubule assembly. We propose that the two functions of Incenp are part of the mechanisms that compensate for the lack of centrosomes during meiotic spindle formation.

Key words: Drosophila, Aurora, Kinase, Microtubule, Meiosis




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Cell Sci.Home page
N. Colombie, C. F. Cullen, A. L. Brittle, J. K. Jang, W. C. Earnshaw, M. Carmena, K. McKim, and H. Ohkura
Dual roles of Incenp crucial to the assembly of the acentrosomal metaphase spindle in female meiosis
J. Cell Sci., October 1, 2008; 121(19): e1907 - e1907.
[Full Text]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008