Drosophila Larp associates with poly(A)-binding protein and is required for male fertility and syncytial embryo development.

As the influence of mRNA translation upon cell cycle regulation becomes clearer, we searched for genes that might specify such control in Drosophila. A maternal-effect lethal screen identified mutants in the Drosophila gene for Larp (La-related protein) which displayed maternal-effect lethality and male sterility. A role for La protein has already been implicated in mRNA translation whereas Larp has been proposed to regulate mRNA stability.

A Drosophila orthologue of larp protein family is required for multiple processes in male meiosis.

It is important for the proper execution of cell division in both mitosis and meiosis that the chromosome segregation, cytokinesis, and partition of cell organelles progress in smooth coordination. We show here that the mitochondria inheritance is closely linked with microtubules during meiotic divisions in Drosophila males. They are first clustered in a cell equator at metaphase associated with astral microtubules and then distributed along central spindle microtubules after anaphase.