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First published online June 18, 2008

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A meiotic mission for SMG7

Proteins that contain ever shorter telomere 1 (EST1) domains have evolutionarily conserved roles in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and telomere metabolism, but little has been known about how these proteins function in intact multicellular organisms. Now, however, Karel Riha and colleagues (p. 2208) identify SMG7, an essential EST1-domain-containing protein in Arabidopsis, and characterise its role in whole plants. As well as showing that NMD is impaired in plants that carry a hypomorphic smg7 mutation, the researchers uncover a novel role for SMG7 – they show that the mutant plants are sterile, and that this results from a defect in meiosis. Pollen mother cells within the floral buds of the mutant plants arrest at the anaphase-telophase transition in meiosis II, and exhibit delayed chromosome decondensation and aberrant rearrangement of the mitotic spindle. Notably, treating wild-type Arabidopsis with a proteasomal inhibitor leads to a similar phenotype; the authors hypothesise, therefore, that SMG7 is required for the downregulation of cyclin-dependent kinases (a key requirement for exit from anaphase II). These results expand the functional repertoire of EST1-domain-containing proteins.

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Related articles in JCS:

Arabidopsis SMG7 protein is required for exit from meiosis

Nina Riehs, Svetlana Akimcheva, Jasna Puizina, Petra Bulankova, Rachel A. Idol, Jiri Siroky, Alexander Schleiffer, Dieter Schweizer, Dorothy E. Shippen, and Karel Riha
JCS 2008 121: 2208-2216. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?