Publications by authors named "Anika Altenfeld"
Article Synopsis
- Kinetochores connect chromosomes to spindle microtubules during mitosis, and the ROD-Zwilch-ZW10 (RZZ) complex plays a crucial role in this process by promoting chromosome alignment and spindle assembly checkpoint signaling.
- The study employs advanced techniques like electron cryomicroscopy and mass spectrometry to develop a detailed model of the RZZ complex, finding structural similarities to cytosolic coat scaffolds involved in membrane trafficking.
- It also reveals that Spindly, a dynein adaptor, directly interacts with RZZ in a unique way that highlights ROD as the receptor for Spindly, indicating that RZZ serves as a cargo for dynein at kinetochores.
Complex assembly, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of the human Rod-Zwilch-ZW10 (RZZ) complex.
Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun
April 2015
The spindle-assembly checkpoint (SAC) monitors kinetochore-microtubule attachment during mitosis. In metazoans, the three-subunit Rod-Zwilch-ZW10 (RZZ) complex is a crucial SAC component that interacts with additional SAC-activating and SAC-silencing components, including the Mad1-Mad2 complex and cytoplasmic dynein. The RZZ complex contains two copies of each subunit and has a predicted molecular mass of ∼800 kDa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Mss4 (mammalian suppressor of yeast Sec4) is an evolutionarily highly conserved protein and is expressed in all mammalian tissues. Although its precise biological function is still elusive, it has been shown to associate with a subset of secretory Rab proteins (Rab1b, Rab3a, Rab8a, Rab10) and to possess a rather low guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity towards them in vitro (Rab1, Rab3a and Rab8a). By screening a human placenta cDNA library with Mss4 as bait, we identified several Rab GTPases (Rab12, Rab13 and Rab18) as novel Mss4-binding Rab proteins.
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