Determinants of Drosophila zw10 protein localization and function

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 785-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.C. Williams ◽  
M.L. Goldberg

We have examined several issues concerning how the Drosophila l(1)zw10 gene product functions to ensure proper chromosome segregation. (a) We have found that in zw10 mutant embryos and larval neuroblasts, absence of the zw10 protein has no obvious effect on either the congression of chromosomes to the metaphase plate or the morphology of the metaphase spindle, although many aberrations are observed subsequently in anaphase. This suggests that activity of the zw10 protein becomes essential at anaphase onset, a time at which the zw10 protein is redistributed to the kinetochore region of the chromosomes. (b) The zw10 protein appears to bind to kinetochores in mitotically arrested cells, eventually accumulating to high levels within the chromosome mass. Our results imply that zw10 may act as part of a novel feedback pathway that normally renders sister chromatid separation dependent upon spindle integrity. (c) The localization of zw10 protein is altered by two mitotic mutations, rough deal and abnormal anaphase resolution, that specifically disrupt anaphase. These findings indicate that the zw10 protein functions as part of a multicomponent mechanism ensuring proper chromosome segregation at the beginning of anaphase.

1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 801-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. B. Wagenaar ◽  
D. F. Bray

The kinetochore region of unpaired chromosomes (univalents) consists of two kinetochores, each belonging to a sister chromatid, that are located adjacent to one another on the surface of the univalent chromosome. This condition results in a movement by the univalent towards one of the polar regions at the onset of metaphase I. Once arrived in this region, one of the sister kinetochores obtains attachments of microtubules from the opposite pole. This results in a gradual return of the univalent to the equatorial plate, where it reaches an equilibrium. The sister kinetochores remain adjacent during the movement, but once arrived at the metaphase plate they develop a typical mitotic appearance, in which the sister kinetochores have opposite positions on the chromosomes.


1992 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
B C Williams ◽  
T L Karr ◽  
J M Montgomery ◽  
M L Goldberg

Mutations in the gene l(1)zw10 disrupt the accuracy of chromosome segregation in a variety of cell types during the course of Drosophila development. Cytological analysis of mutant larval brain neuroblasts shows very high levels of aneuploid cells. Many anaphase figures are aberrant, the most frequent abnormality being the presence of lagging chromosomes that remain in the vicinity of the metaphase plate when the other chromosomes have migrated toward the spindle poles. Finally, the centromeric connection between sister chromatids in mutant neuroblasts treated with colchicine often appears to be broken, in contrast with similarly treated control neuroblasts. The 85-kD protein encoded by the l(1)zw10 locus displays a dynamic pattern of localization in the course of the embryonic cell cycle. It is excluded from the nuclei during interphase, but migrates into the nuclear zone during prometaphase. At metaphase, the zw10 antigen is found in a novel filamentous structure that may be specifically associated with kinetochore microtubules. Upon anaphase onset, there is an extremely rapid redistribution of the zw10 protein to a location at or near the kinetochores of the separating chromosomes.


2000 ◽  
Vol 150 (6) ◽  
pp. 1233-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Howell ◽  
D.B. Hoffman ◽  
G. Fang ◽  
A.W. Murray ◽  
E.D. Salmon

The spindle checkpoint prevents errors in chromosome segregation by inhibiting anaphase onset until all chromosomes have aligned at the spindle equator through attachment of their sister kinetochores to microtubules from opposite spindle poles. A key checkpoint component is the mitotic arrest–deficient protein 2 (Mad2), which localizes to unattached kinetochores and inhibits activation of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC) through an interaction with Cdc20. Recent studies have suggested a catalytic model for kinetochore function where unattached kinetochores provide sites for assembling and releasing Mad2–Cdc20 complexes, which sequester Cdc20 and prevent it from activating the APC. To test this model, we examined Mad2 dynamics in living PtK1 cells that were either injected with fluorescently labeled Alexa 488-XMad2 or transfected with GFP-hMAD2. Real-time, digital imaging revealed fluorescent Mad2 localized to unattached kinetochores, spindle poles, and spindle fibers depending on the stage of mitosis. FRAP measurements showed that Mad2 is a transient component of unattached kinetochores, as predicted by the catalytic model, with a t1/2 of ∼24–28 s. Cells entered anaphase ∼10 min after Mad2 was no longer detectable on the kinetochores of the last chromosome to congress to the metaphase plate. Several observations indicate that Mad2 binding sites are translocated from kinetochores to spindle poles along microtubules. First, Mad2 that bound to sites on a kinetochore was dynamically stretched in both directions upon microtubule interactions, and Mad2 particles moved from kinetochores toward the poles. Second, spindle fiber and pole fluorescence disappeared upon Mad2 disappearance at the kinetochores. Third, ATP depletion resulted in microtubule-dependent depletion of Mad2 fluorescence at kinetochores and increased fluorescence at spindle poles. Finally, in normal cells, the half-life of Mad2 turnover at poles, 23 s, was similar to kinetochores. Thus, kinetochore-derived sites along spindle fibers and at spindle poles may also catalyze Mad2 inhibitory complex formation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2275-2291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Althoff ◽  
Roger E. Karess ◽  
Christian F. Lehner

Monopolar spindle 1 (Mps1) is essential for the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which prevents anaphase onset in the presence of misaligned chromosomes. Moreover, Mps1 kinase contributes in a SAC-independent manner to the correction of erroneous initial attachments of chromosomes to the spindle. Our characterization of the Drosophila homologue reveals yet another SAC-independent role. As in yeast, modest overexpression of Drosophila Mps1 is sufficient to delay progression through mitosis during metaphase, even though chromosome congression and metaphase alignment do not appear to be affected. This delay in metaphase depends on the SAC component Mad2. Although Mps1 overexpression in mad2 mutants no longer causes a metaphase delay, it perturbs anaphase. Sister kinetochores barely move apart toward spindle poles. However, kinetochore movements can be restored experimentally by separase-independent resolution of sister chromatid cohesion. We propose therefore that Mps1 inhibits sister chromatid separation in a SAC-independent manner. Moreover, we report unexpected results concerning the requirement of Mps1 dimerization and kinase activity for its kinetochore localization in Drosophila. These findings further expand Mps1's significance for faithful mitotic chromosome segregation and emphasize the importance of its careful regulation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2371-2380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana A. Ribeiro ◽  
Jesse C. Gatlin ◽  
Yimin Dong ◽  
Ajit Joglekar ◽  
Lisa Cameron ◽  
...  

When chromosomes are aligned and bioriented at metaphase, the elastic stretch of centromeric chromatin opposes pulling forces exerted on sister kinetochores by the mitotic spindle. Here we show that condensin ATPase activity is an important regulator of centromere stiffness and function. Condensin depletion decreases the stiffness of centromeric chromatin by 50% when pulling forces are applied to kinetochores. However, condensin is dispensable for the normal level of compaction (rest length) of centromeres, which probably depends on other factors that control higher-order chromatin folding. Kinetochores also do not require condensin for their structure or motility. Loss of stiffness caused by condensin-depletion produces abnormal uncoordinated sister kinetochore movements, leads to an increase in Mad2(+) kinetochores near the metaphase plate and delays anaphase onset.


1997 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
pp. 1289-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Starr ◽  
Byron C. Williams ◽  
Zexiao Li ◽  
Bijan Etemad-Moghadam ◽  
R. Kelly Dawe ◽  
...  

Mutations in the essential Drosophila melanogaster gene zw10 disrupt chromosome segregation, producing chromosomes that lag at the metaphase plate during anaphase of mitosis and both meiotic divisions. Recent evidence suggests that the product of this gene, DmZW10, acts at the kinetochore as part of a tension-sensing checkpoint at anaphase onset. DmZW10 displays an intriguing cell cycle–dependent intracellular distribution, apparently moving from the centromere/kinetochore at prometaphase to kinetochore microtubules at metaphase, and back to the centromere/kinetochore at anaphase (Williams, B.C., M. Gatti, and M.L. Goldberg. 1996. J. Cell Biol. 134:1127-1140). We have identified ZW10-related proteins from widely diverse species with divergent centromere structures, including several Drosophilids, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, Mus musculus, and humans. Antibodies against the human ZW10 protein display a cell cycle–dependent staining pattern in HeLa cells strikingly similar to that previously observed for DmZW10 in dividing Drosophila cells. Injections of C. elegans ZW10 antisense RNA phenocopies important aspects of the mutant phenotype in Drosophila: these include a strong decrease in brood size, suggesting defects in meiosis or germline mitosis, a high percentage of lethality among the embryos that are produced, and the appearance of chromatin bridges at anaphase. These results indicate that at least some aspects of the functional role of the ZW10 protein in ensuring proper chromosome segregation are conserved across large evolutionary distances.


2016 ◽  
pp. 126-129
Author(s):  
M. Makarenko ◽  
◽  
D. Hovsyeyev ◽  
L. Sydoryk ◽  
◽  
...  

Different kinds of physiological stress cause mass changes in the cells, including the changes in the structure and function of the protein complexes and in separate molecules. The protein functions is determined by its folding (the spatial conclusion), which depends on the functioning of proteins of thermal shock- molecular chaperons (HSPs) or depends on the stress proteins, that are high-conservative; specialized proteins that are responsible for the correct proteinaceous folding. The family of the molecular chaperones/ chaperonins/ Hsp60 has a special place due to the its unique properties of activating the signaling cascades through the system of Toll-like receptors; it also stimulates the cells to produce anti- inflammatory cytokines, defensins, molecules of cell adhesion and the molecules of MHC; it functions as the intercellular signaling molecule. The pathological role of Hsp60 is established in a wide range of illnesses, from diabetes to atherosclerosis, where Hsp60 takes part in the regulation of both apoptosis and the autoimmune processes. The presence of the HSPs was found in different tissues that are related to the reproductive system. Key words: molecular chaperons (HSPs), Toll-like receptors, reproductive function, natural auto antibody.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 160 (2) ◽  
pp. 805-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward S Davis ◽  
Lucia Wille ◽  
Barry A Chestnut ◽  
Penny L Sadler ◽  
Diane C Shakes ◽  
...  

Abstract Two genes, originally identified in genetic screens for Caenorhabditis elegans mutants that arrest in metaphase of meiosis I, prove to encode subunits of the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C). RNA interference studies reveal that these and other APC/C subunits are essential for the segregation of chromosomal homologs during meiosis I. Further, chromosome segregation during meiosis I requires APC/C functions in addition to the release of sister chromatid cohesion.


Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
D P Moore ◽  
W Y Miyazaki ◽  
J E Tomkiel ◽  
T L Orr-Weaver

Abstract We describe a Drosophila mutation, Double or nothing (Dub), that causes meiotic nondisjunction in a conditional, dominant manner. Previously isolated mutations in Drosophila specifically affect meiosis either in females or males, with the exception of the mei-S332 and ord genes which are required for proper sister-chromatid cohesion. Dub is unusual in that it causes aberrant chromosome segregation almost exclusively in meiosis I in both sexes. In Dub mutant females both nonexchange and exchange chromosomes undergo nondisjunction, but the effect of Dub on nonexchange chromosomes is more pronounced. Dub reduces recombination levels slightly. Multiple nondisjoined chromosomes frequently cosegregate to the same pole. Dub results in nondisjunction of all chromosomes in meiosis I of males, although the levels are lower than in females. When homozygous, Dub is a conditional lethal allele and exhibits phenotypes consistent with cell death.


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