title: Genome-wide RNAi screen for synthetic lethal interactions with the C. elegans kinesin-5 homolog BMK-1.
abstract: Kinesins are a superfamily of microtubule-based molecular motors that perform various transport needs and have essential roles in cell division. Among these, the kinesin-5 family has been shown to play a major role in the formation and maintenance of the bipolar mitotic spindle. Moreover, recent work suggests that kinesin-5 motors may have additional roles. In contrast to most model organisms, the sole kinesin-5 gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, bmk-1, is not required for successful mitosis and animals lacking bmk-1 are viable and fertile. To gain insight into factors that may act redundantly with BMK-1 in spindle assembly and to identify possible additional cellular pathways involving BMK-1, we performed a synthetic lethal screen using the bmk-1 deletion allele ok391. We successfully knocked down 82% of the C. elegans genome using RNAi and assayed viability in bmk-1(ok391) and wild type strains using an automated high-throughput approach based on fluorescence microscopy. The dataset includes a final list of 37 synthetic lethal interactions whose further study is likely to provide insight into kinesin-5 function.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto , Porto, Portugal ; Department of Medical Oncology, Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht , 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: André F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht , 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marvin E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Tanenbaum
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Utrecht University , 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Matilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Cell Microscopy Center, University Medical Center Utrecht , 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lelieveld
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Cell Microscopy Center, University Medical Center Utrecht , 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto , Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Reto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gassmann
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto , Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Claudio E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Sunkel
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Utrecht University , 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van den Heuvel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Laboratory of Experimental Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht , 3584 CG Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: René H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Medema
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D016547:Kinesins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D015398:Signal Transduction; D008941:Spindle Apparatus
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D016547:Kinesins