QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online 12 September 2006
doi: 10.1242/jcs.03192

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material All Versions of this Article: jcs.03192v1 119/19/4071    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Royle, S. J. Articles by Lagnado, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Royle, S. J. Articles by Lagnado, L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Trimerisation is important for the function of clathrin at the mitotic spindle

Stephen J. Royle^*, and Leon Lagnado

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, UK

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: S.J.Royle{at}liverpool.ac.uk)

Accepted 21 July 2006

Clathrin is a triskelion consisting of three heavy chains each with an associated light chain. During mitosis, clathrin contributes to kinetochore fibre stability. As the N-terminal domain at the foot of each leg can bind to the mitotic spindle, we proposed previously a `bridge hypothesis' wherein clathrin acts as a brace between two or three microtubules within a kinetochore fibre to increase fibre stability. Here, we have tested this hypothesis by replacing endogenous clathrin heavy chain in human cells with a panel of clathrin constructs. Mutants designed to abolish trimerisation were unable to rescue the mitotic defects caused by depletion of endogenous clathrin. By contrast, stunted triskelia with contracted legs could partially rescue normal mitosis. These results indicate that the key structural features of clathrin that are necessary for its function in mitosis are a trimeric molecule with a spindle interaction domain at each end, supporting the bridge hypothesis for clathrin function in mitosis.

Key words: Clathrin, Mitosis, Endocytosis, RNAi

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. E. Hood and S. J. Royle Functional equivalence of the clathrin heavy chains CHC17 and CHC22 in endocytosis and mitosis J. Cell Sci., July 1, 2009; 122(13): 2185 - 2190. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. W. Habela, M. L. Olsen, and H. Sontheimer ClC3 Is a Critical Regulator of the Cell Cycle in Normal and Malignant Glial Cells J. Neurosci., September 10, 2008; 28(37): 9205 - 9217. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]