This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The goal of our work is to understand centrosome duplication and maturation. In particular, we are interested in how new centrioles assemble and how centrioles direct the recruitment of pericentriolar material to form centrosomes. Very little is known about either of these processes because centrioles are small, essential structures that are not found in fungi. To identify functionally important centrosomal components, I initiated a fluorescence screen during my postdoctoral work, in which we screened 250 genes that had been implicated in cell division using spinning disc confocal microscopy of embryos expressing GFP-beta-tubulin and GFP-histone to simultaneously monitor chromosome segregation and the dynamics of the microtubule cytoskeleton. This strategy identified seven new genes required for centrosome function: three genes required specifically for centrosome duplication, one gene required for aster assembly, and three required for spindle assembly. Cumulatively, large-scale RNAi-based screens and fluorescence analysis combined with genetics and the characterization of the C. elegans homologs of proteins identified in other systems have led to the identification of 15 proteins that affect centrosome function. We propose a collaboration to characterize centrosomal protein complexes containing these components that have been isolated by immunoprecipitation and tandem affinity purification (TAP).
Showing the most recent 10 out of 583 publications