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First published online 27 January 2009
doi: 10.1242/jcs.040352

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Mars, a Drosophila protein related to vertebrate HURP, is required for the attachment of centrosomes to the mitotic spindle during syncytial nuclear divisions

¹ Abteilung Stammzellbiologie, DFG Research Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CMPB), Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
² Biologie du Développement, UMR 7622-CNRS-Université Paris 6, Batiment C-30, Case 24, 9 quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris, France
³ Institut für Allgemeine Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Klinikum der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt/Main, Germany
⁴ Fakultät für Biologie, Universität Konstanz, 78434 Konstanz, Germany

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: awodarz{at}gwdg.de)

Accepted 28 October 2008

The formation of the mitotic spindle is controlled by the microtubule organizing activity of the centrosomes and by the effects of chromatin-associated Ran-GTP on the activities of spindle assembly factors. In this study we show that Mars, a Drosophila protein with sequence similarity to vertebrate hepatoma upregulated protein (HURP), is required for the attachment of the centrosome to the mitotic spindle. More than 80% of embryos derived from mars mutant females do not develop properly due to severe mitotic defects during the rapid nuclear divisions in early embryogenesis. Centrosomes frequently detach from spindles and from the nuclear envelope and nucleate astral microtubules in ectopic positions. Consistent with its function in spindle organization, Mars localizes to nuclei in interphase and associates with the mitotic spindle, in particular with the spindle poles, during mitosis. We propose that Mars is an important linker between the spindle and the centrosomes that is required for proper spindle organization during the rapid mitotic cycles in early embryogenesis.

Key words: Centrosome, Cleavage division, Microtubule associated protein, Mitotic spindle

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				G. Zhang, M. Breuer, A. Forster, D. Egger-Adam, and A. Wodarz Mars, a Drosophila protein related to vertebrate HURP, is required for the attachment of centrosomes to the mitotic spindle during syncytial nuclear divisions Development, March 1, 2009; 136(5): e1 - e1. [Full Text]