Work

The Drosophila pericentrin-like protein is essential for cilia/flagella function, but appears to be dispensable for mitosis

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: Centrosomes consist of a pair of centrioles surrounded by an amorphous pericentriolar material (PCM). Proteins that contain a Pericentrin/AKAP450 centrosomal targeting (PACT) domain have been implicated in recruiting several proteins to the PCM. We show that the only PACT domain protein in Drosophila (the Drosophila pericentrin-like protein [D-PLP]) is associated with both the centrioles and the PCM, and is essential for the efficient centrosomal recruitment of all six PCM components that we tested. Surprisingly, however, all six PCM components are eventually recruited to centrosomes during mitosis in d-plp mutant cells, and mitosis is not dramatically perturbed. Although viable, d-plp mutant flies are severely uncoordinated, a phenotype usually associated with defects in mechanosensory neuron function. We show that the sensory cilia of these neurons are malformed and the neurons are nonfunctional in d-plp mutants. Moreover, the flagella in mutant sperm are nonmotile. Thus, D-PLP is essential for the formation of functional cilia and flagella in flies.

Source: The Journal of Cell Biology

DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200402130

Authors: Maruxa Martinez-Campos, Renata Basto, James Baker, Maurice Kernan, Jordan W. Raff

Institutions: University of Cambridge, The Gurdon Institute, State University of New York, Stony Brook University

Language: English

Topic: Genetic and Kidney Cyst Diseases

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Wellcome Trust, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Award: Mechanotransduction: a genetic and molecular analysis