title: Caenorhabditis elegans Aurora A kinase is required for the formation of spindle microtubules in female meiosis.
abstract: In many animals, female meiotic spindles are assembled in the absence of centrosomes, the major microtubule (MT)-organizing centers. How MTs are formed and organized into meiotic spindles is poorly understood. Here we report that, in Caenorhabditis elegans, Aurora A kinase/AIR-1 is required for the formation of spindle microtubules during female meiosis. When AIR-1 was depleted or its kinase activity was inhibited in C. elegans oocytes, although MTs were formed around chromosomes at germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), they were decreased during meiotic prometaphase and failed to form a bipolar spindle, and chromosomes were not separated into two masses. Whereas AIR-1 protein was detected on and around meiotic spindles, its kinase-active form was concentrated on chromosomes at prometaphase and on interchromosomal MTs during late anaphase and telophase. We also found that AIR-1 is involved in the assembly of short, dynamic MTs in the meiotic cytoplasm, and these short MTs were actively incorporated into meiotic spindles. Collectively our results suggest that, after GVBD, the kinase activity of AIR-1 is continuously required for the assembly and/or stabilization of female meiotic spindle MTs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Developmental Dynamics, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Eisuke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sumiyoshi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Developmental Dynamics, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuma
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukata
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Developmental Dynamics, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Namai
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Developmental Dynamics, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan asugimoto@m.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Asako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064096:Aurora Kinase A / Q000378:metabolism*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D018385:Centrosome / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D009865:Oocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; C576939:air-1 protein, C elegans