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Published online February 11, 2008
doi:10.1083/jcb.200708072
The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 180, No. 3, 521-535
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© 2008 Gao et al.
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Article

 Australin: a chromosomal passenger protein required specifically for Drosophila melanogaster male meiosis

Shan Gao1, Maria Grazia Giansanti2,3, Graham J. Buttrick1, Sharada Ramasubramanyan1, Adam Auton4,5, Maurizio Gatti2,3, and James G. Wakefield1,4

1 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS Oxford, England, UK
2 Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare and 3 Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari del Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche, Universita di Roma "La Sapienza," 00185 Rome, Italy
4 Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, OX1 3QD Oxford, England, UK
5 Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, OX1 3SY Oxford, England, UK

Correspondence to J. Wakefield: james.wakefield{at}zoo.ox.ac.uk

The chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), which is composed of conserved proteins aurora B, inner centromere protein (INCENP), survivin, and Borealin/DASRA, localizes to chromatin, kinetochores, microtubules, and the cell cortex in a cell cycle–dependent manner. The CPC is required for multiple aspects of cell division. Here we find that Drosophila melanogaster encodes two Borealin paralogues, Borealin-related (Borr) and Australin (Aust). Although Borr is a passenger in all mitotic tissues studied, it is specifically replaced by Aust for the two male meiotic divisions. We analyzed aust mutant spermatocytes to assess the effects of fully inactivating the Aust-dependent functions of the CPC. Our results indicate that Aust is required for sister chromatid cohesion, recruitment of the CPC to kinetochores, and chromosome alignment and segregation but not for meiotic histone phosphorylation or spindle formation. Furthermore, we show that the CPC is required earlier in cytokinesis than previously thought; cells lacking Aust do not initiate central spindle formation, accumulate anillin or actin at the cell equator, or undergo equatorial constriction.

Abbreviations used in this paper: Aust, Australin; Borr, Borealin-related; CPC, chromosomal passenger complex; dsRNA, double-stranded RNA; INCENP, inner centromere protein; MBP, myelin basic protein; MT, microtubule; Pav, Pavarotti; UTR, untranslated region.


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