Abstract
The female meiotic spindle is commonly formed in a centrosome-independent manner. Here we report the identification of proteins at acentrosomal poles in the female meiotic spindle of Drosophila. The acentrosomal poles contain at least two proteins, Mini-spindles (Msps) and D-TACC, which are also associated with mitotic centrosomes. These proteins interact with one another and are both required for maintaining the bipolarity of acentrosomal spindles. The polar localization of Msps is dependent on D-TACC and Ncd, a kinesin-like microtubule motor. We propose that the polar localization of Msps mediated by D-TACC and Ncd may be crucial for the stabilization of meiotic spindle bipolarity.
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Acknowledgements
We thank I. Davis, K. Sawin, J. Raff and N. Preston for critical reading of the manuscript, and K. Gull and D. Glover for antibodies. We thank members of the Ohkura laboratory for support and encouragement, and J. Raff and members of his laboratory for sharing materials and unpublished results. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust and H.O. received a Wellcome Senior Fellowship for Basic Biomedical Science.
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Cullen, C., Ohkura, H. Msps protein is localized to acentrosomal poles to ensure bipolarity of Drosophila meiotic spindles. Nat Cell Biol 3, 637–642 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35083025
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35083025
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