JCB logo
Accuri Cytometers
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published online
doi:10.1083/jcb.200807046
The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 183, No. 5, 835-848
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© Zhu et al.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 8423K)
Right arrow PDF+supp data (12753K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Supplemental Material Index
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 Zhu, H.
Right arrow Articles by Fang, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Zhu, H.
Right arrow Articles by Fang, G.
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?

Article

FAM29A promotes microtubule amplification via recruitment of the NEDD1–{gamma}-tubulin complex to the mitotic spindle



Hui Zhu1, Judith A. Coppinger3, Chang-Young Jang1, John R. Yates, III3, and Guowei Fang1,2

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
2 Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA 94080
3 Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037

Correspondence to Guowei Fang: fang.guowei{at}gene.com

Microtubules (MTs) are nucleated from centrosomes and chromatin. In addition, MTs can be generated from preexiting MTs in a {gamma}-tubulin–dependent manner in yeast, plant, and Drosophila cells, although the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Here we show the spindle-associated protein FAM29A promotes MT-dependent MT amplification and is required for efficient chromosome congression and segregation in mammalian cells. Depletion of FAM29A reduces spindle MT density. FAM29A is not involved in the nucleation of MTs from centrosomes and chromatin, but is required for a subsequent increase in MT mass in cells released from nocodazole. FAM29A interacts with the NEDD1–{gamma}-tubulin complex and recruits this complex to the spindle, which, in turn, promotes MT polymerization. FAM29A preferentially associates with kinetochore MTs and knockdown of FAM29A reduces the number of MTs in a kinetochore fiber, activates the spindle checkpoint, and delays the mitotic progression. Our study provides a biochemical mechanism for MT-dependent MT amplification and for the maturation of kinetochore fibers in mammalian cells.

Abbreviations used in this paper: FLIP, fluorescence loss in photobleaching; MT, microtubule; Plk1, polo-like kinase 1.

© 2008 Zhu et al. This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).


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