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The KavarD dominant female-sterile mutations of Drosophila reveal a role for the maternally provided α-tubulin4 isoform in cleavage spindle maintenance and elongation

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Abstract

The dominant-negative female-sterile KavarD mutations and their revertant kavarr alleles identify the αTubulin67C gene of Drosophila melanogaster, which codes for the maternally provided α-tubulin4 isoform. The mutations result in the formation of monopolar, collapsed spindles (each with two nearby centrosomes, a tassel of microtubules and overcondensed chromosomes), thus revealing a novel function for α-tubulin4 in spindle maintenance and elongation. Molecular features of the two KavarD alleles and a kavarnull allele are described and models for their actions are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Thomas C. Kaufman for the generous gift of the CNN antibody, Steffi Kuhfittig for Df(3L)55, Kathy Matthews for the αTub67C− alleles, Endre Máthé for Df(3L)21mrX1 and Thomas Rudolph for the Drosophila genomic λ library. Support for our work came from the following sources: the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Maternal-Effect and Embryogenesis Research Group, the FKFP (Grant No. 1348), and the Graduate Student Program of the University of Szeged

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maternal-Effect and Embryogenesis Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Somogyi B. u. 4, H-6720, Szeged, Hungary

    Zsolt Venkei & János Szabad

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  1. Zsolt Venkei
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  2. János Szabad
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Correspondence to János Szabad.

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Communicated by G. Reuter

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Venkei, Z., Szabad, J. The KavarD dominant female-sterile mutations of Drosophila reveal a role for the maternally provided α-tubulin4 isoform in cleavage spindle maintenance and elongation. Mol Genet Genomics 273, 283–289 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-005-1109-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-005-1109-x

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