spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online October 10, 2007

Journal of Cell Science 120, 2005e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JCS
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Search for Related Content

In this issue

Microcephalin sizes up flies


Figure 1

Primary microcephaly, a human developmental disorder characterized by a small brain, can be caused by mutations in microcephalin (MCPH1) – a protein involved in the timing of chromosome condensation and in DNA repair. Two papers in this issue of JCS show how researchers are now turning to flies to study the developmental roles of MCPH1. On p. 3578, Andrew Jackson and co-authors report that the Drosophila ortholog coordinates the centrosomal and nuclear mitotic cycles in syncitial fly embryos. MCPH1 localizes with DNA during interphase, they report, but a short isoform relocalizes to the centrosome and spindle during mitosis, and is required for the syncitial nuclear divisions that occur in early fly embryos. Like Jackson's team, Laura Lee and co-authors report that embryos of mcph1-null female flies undergo mitotic arrest (see p. 3565). They show that this arrest follows activation of the checkpoint kinase Chk2 and propose a model in which lack of mcph1 results in mitotic entry with unreplicated DNA and genomic instability. Finally, Lee and colleagues report that mcph1 is required for formation of normal brain structures in adult male flies. Together, these two papers suggest that studies in fly embryos could help to unravel how MCPH1 determines human brain size.


Related articles in JCS:

The Drosophila homolog of MCPH1, a human microcephaly gene, is required for genomic stability in the early embryo
Jamie L. Rickmyre, Shamik DasGupta, Danny Liang-Yee Ooi, Jessica Keel, Ethan Lee, Marc W. Kirschner, Scott Waddell, and Laura A. Lee
JCS 2007 120: 3565-3577. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Microcephalin coordinates mitosis in the syncytial Drosophila embryo
Kathrin Brunk, Bertrand Vernay, Elen Griffith, Natalie L. Reynolds, David Strutt, Philip W. Ingham, and Andrew P. Jackson
JCS 2007 120: 3578-3588. [Abstract] [Full Text]  




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JCS
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Search for Related Content