Chromosome tangling and breakage at anaphase result from mutations in lodestar, a Drosophila gene encoding a putative nucleoside triphosphate-binding protein.
We describe a Drosophila maternal-effect gene, lodestar, mutations in which cause chromatin bridges at anaphase. lodestar maps to cytological position 84D13-14, and we identified the lodestar gene in germ-line transformation experiments by the ability of a genomic fragment to restore fertility to females homozygous for lodestar mutations. lodestar encodes a potential nucleoside triphosphate binding protein, which is a novel member of the D-E-A-H box family of proteins. Antibodies raised against the lodestar gene product detect a protein that undergoes cell cycle-dependent changes in distribution in the embryo. The protein is cytoplasmic at interphase, and rapidly enters the nucleus early in prophase. It is restricted to the region enclosed by the spindle envelope during metaphase and anaphase; but by telophase, the lodestar protein is contained entirely within the reforming nucleus.
Department of Biochemistry, The University, Dundee, Scotland.
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Girdham
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Glover
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000705:Anaphase; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001756:Blastoderm / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002843:Chromatin / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D005298:Fertility; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012984:Software; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C071248:lds protein, Drosophila; D001616:beta-Galactosidase