JCB logo
amgmicro.com
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 4179K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Matthews, L. R.
Right arrow Articles by Kemphues, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Matthews, L. R.
Right arrow Articles by Kemphues, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1998//1159 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 141, Number 5, , 1998 1159-1168

Articles

ZYG-9, A Caenorhabditis elegans Protein Required for Microtubule Organization and Function, Is a Component of Meiotic and Mitotic Spindle Poles



Lisa R. Matthews*, Philip Carter*, Danielle Thierry-Mieg{ddagger}, and Ken Kemphues*

* Section of Genetics and Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850; and {ddagger} Centre de Recherches de Biochimie Macromoléculaire du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 34293 Montpellier, France

We describe the molecular characterization of zyg-9, a maternally acting gene essential for microtubule organization and function in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. Defects in zyg-9 mutants suggest that the zyg-9 product functions in the organization of the meiotic spindle and the formation of long microtubules. One-cell zyg-9 embryos exhibit both meiotic and mitotic spindle defects. Meiotic spindles are disorganized, pronuclear migration fails, and the mitotic apparatus forms at the posterior, orients incorrectly, and contains unusually short microtubules. We find that zyg-9 encodes a component of the meiotic and mitotic spindle poles. In addition to the strong staining of spindle poles, we consistently detect staining in the region of the kinetochore microtubules at metaphase and early anaphase in mitotic spindles. The ZYG-9 signal at the mitotic centrosomes is not reduced by nocodazole treatment, indicating that ZYG-9 localization to the mitotic centrosomes is not dependent upon long astral microtubules. Interestingly, in embryos lacking an organized meiotic spindle, produced either by nocodazole treatment or mutations in the mei-1 gene, ZYG-9 forms a halo around the meiotic chromosomes. The protein sequence shows partial similarity to a small set of proteins that also localize to spindle poles, suggesting a common activity of the proteins.

1. Abbreviation used in this paper: DAPI, 4',6-diamidino-3-phenylindole dihydrochloride.

Address all correspondence to Ken Kemphues, Section of Genetics and Development, 101 Biotechnology Bldg., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Tel.: (607) 254-4805. Fax: (607) 255-6249. E-mail: kjk1{at}cornell.edu


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents