An acentriolar centrosome at the C. elegans ciliary base.

In animal cells, the functions of the microtubule cytoskeleton are coordinated by centriole-based centrosomes via γ-tubulin complexes embedded in the pericentriolar material or PCM. PCM assembly has been best studied in the context of mitosis, where centriolar SPD-2 recruits PLK-1, which in turn phosphorylates key scaffolding components like SPD-5 and CNN to promote expansion of the PCM polymer. To what extent these mechanisms apply to centrosomes in interphase or in differentiated cells remains unclear.

Simultaneous dual-channel imaging to quantify interdependent protein recruitment to laser-induced DNA damage sites.

Fluorescence microscopy in combination with the induction of localized DNA damage using focused light beams has played a major role in the study of protein recruitment kinetics to DNA damage sites in recent years. Currently published methods are dedicated to the study of single fluorophore/single protein kinetics. However, these methods may be limited when studying the relative recruitment dynamics between two or more proteins due to cell-to-cell variability in gene expression and recruitment kinetics, and are not suitable for comparative analysis of fast-recruiting proteins.