TY - JOUR
T1 - Drosophila APC2 and Armadillo participate in tethering mitotic spindles to cortical actin
AU - McCartney, Brooke M.
AU - McEwen, Donald G.
AU - Grevengoed, Elizabeth
AU - Maddox, Paul
AU - Bejsovec, Amy
AU - Peifer, Mark
PY - 2001/10/22
Y1 - 2001/10/22
N2 - Proper positioning of mitotic spindles ensures equal allocation of chromosomes to daughter cells. This often involves interactions between spindle and astral microtubules and cortical actin1. In yeast and Caenorhabditis elegans, some of the protein machinery that connects spindles and cortex has been identified but, in most animal cells, this process remains mysterious. Here, we report that the tumour suppresser homologue APC2 and its binding partner Armadillo both play roles in spindle anchoring during the syncytial mitoses of early Drosophila embryos. Armadillo, α-catenin and APC2 all localize to sites of cortical spindle attachment. APC2-Armadillo complexes often localize with interphase microtubules. Zeste-white 3 kinase, which can phosphorylate Armadillo and APC, is also crucial for spindle positioning and regulates the localization of APC2-Armadillo complexes. Together, these data suggest that APC2, Armadillo and α-catenin provide an important link between spindles and cortical actin, and that this link is regulated by Zeste-white 3 kinase.
AB - Proper positioning of mitotic spindles ensures equal allocation of chromosomes to daughter cells. This often involves interactions between spindle and astral microtubules and cortical actin1. In yeast and Caenorhabditis elegans, some of the protein machinery that connects spindles and cortex has been identified but, in most animal cells, this process remains mysterious. Here, we report that the tumour suppresser homologue APC2 and its binding partner Armadillo both play roles in spindle anchoring during the syncytial mitoses of early Drosophila embryos. Armadillo, α-catenin and APC2 all localize to sites of cortical spindle attachment. APC2-Armadillo complexes often localize with interphase microtubules. Zeste-white 3 kinase, which can phosphorylate Armadillo and APC, is also crucial for spindle positioning and regulates the localization of APC2-Armadillo complexes. Together, these data suggest that APC2, Armadillo and α-catenin provide an important link between spindles and cortical actin, and that this link is regulated by Zeste-white 3 kinase.
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U2 - 10.1038/ncb1001-933
DO - 10.1038/ncb1001-933
M3 - Article
C2 - 11584277
AN - SCOPUS:0034789121
VL - 3
SP - 933
EP - 938
JO - Nature Cell Biology
JF - Nature Cell Biology
SN - 1465-7392
IS - 10
ER -