Publications by authors named "Hiro Ohkura"
Article Synopsis
- Dgp71WD/Nedd1 proteins are crucial for forming mitotic spindles; they help target γ-tubulin to specific structures in human cells and Drosophila, but their functions vary in different organisms.
- In Drosophila, Dgp71WD is essential for γ-tubulin recruitment to spindles but not centrosomes, and in Xenopus, Nedd1 functions as a general microtubule organizer independent of γ-tubulin.
- A null mutant of Dgp71WD shows no impact on centrosomal γ-tubulin recruitment but significantly disrupts spindle formation and meiosis in oocytes, indicating Dgp71WD has unique roles beyond just aiding γ-TuRC or Augmin complexes
Defects in chromosome segregation result in aneuploidy, which can lead to disease or cell death [1, 2]. The spindle checkpoint delays anaphase onset until all chromosomes are attached to spindle microtubules in a bipolar fashion [3, 4]. Mad2 is a key checkpoint component that undergoes conformational activation, catalyzed by a Mad1-Mad2 template enriched at unattached kinetochores [5].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe highly condensed chromosomes and chromosome breaks in mitotic cells of a Drosophila mutant, spotted-dick/pita, are the consequence of defects in DNA replication. Reduction of levels of Spotted-dick protein, by either RNAi or mutation, leads to the accumulation of cells that have DNA content intermediate to 2N and 4N in proliferating tissues and also compromises endoreduplication in larval salivary glands. The Spotted-dick Zinc-finger protein is present in the nuclei of cells committed to proliferation but necessary in cells undertaking S phase.
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