Stu-7/air-2 is a C. elegans aurora homologue essential for chromosome segregation during embryonic and post-embryonic development.
We have isolated a new sterile uncoordinated C. elegans mutant, stu-7, which is defective in post-embryonic cell divisions in a regionally-specific fashion. The anterior of the worm is relatively unaffected whereas the mid-body and/or posterior are markedly thin, often resulting in worms having a central 'waist'. We have cloned stu-7 and found that it encodes a member of the recently expanding aurora sub-family of serine/threonine kinases. Elimination of maternal as well as zygotic stu-7 expression reveals that stu-7 is essential for mitosis from the first embryonic cell cycle onwards and is required for chromosome segregation though not for centrosome separation or for setting up a bipolar spindle. Multicopy expression of stu-7 also causes mitotic defects, suggesting that the level of this protein must be tightly controlled in order to maintain genetic stability during development.
Woollard
A
A
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK. aw1@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
Hodgkin
J
J
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D002875:Chromosomes; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
D017931:DNA Primers; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases