Abstract
During female meiosis in animals, the meiotic spindle is attached to the egg cortex by one pole during anaphase to allow selective disposal of half the chromosomes in a polar body. In Caenorhabditis elegans, this anaphase spindle position is achieved sequentially through kinesin-1-dependent early translocation followed by anaphase-promoting complex (APC)-dependent spindle rotation. Partial depletion of cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain by RNA interference blocked spindle rotation without affecting early translocation. Dynein depletion also blocked the APC-dependent late translocation that occurs in kinesin-1-depleted embryos. Time-lapse imaging of green fluorescent protein-tagged dynein heavy chain as well as immunofluorescence with dynein-specific antibodies revealed that dynein starts to accumulate at spindle poles just before the initiation of rotation or late translocation. Accumulation of dynein at poles was kinesin-1 independent and APC dependent, just like dynein driven spindle movements. This represents a case of kinesin-1/dynein coordination in which these two motors of opposite polarity act sequentially and independently on a cargo to move it in the same direction.
Publication types
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Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
MeSH terms
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Anaphase-Promoting Complex-Cyclosome
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Animals
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Caenorhabditis elegans / embryology
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Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism*
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
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Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
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Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism
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Cytoplasm / metabolism
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Cytoplasmic Dyneins
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Dyneins / genetics
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Dyneins / metabolism*
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Embryo, Nonmammalian / metabolism
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Female
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Fluorescent Antibody Technique
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Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
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Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
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Immunohistochemistry
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Kinesins / genetics
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Kinesins / metabolism*
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Meiosis / genetics
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Microscopy, Fluorescence
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Microtubules / metabolism
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Models, Biological
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Mutation
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Oocytes / cytology
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Oocytes / metabolism*
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RNA Interference
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
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Spindle Apparatus / metabolism*
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Tubulin / genetics
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Tubulin / metabolism
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Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes / genetics
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Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes / metabolism
Substances
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins
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Tubulin
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UNC-116 protein, C elegans
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Complexes
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Anaphase-Promoting Complex-Cyclosome
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Cytoplasmic Dyneins
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DHC-1 protein, C elegans
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Dyneins
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Kinesins