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MULTIPOLAR SPINDLE 1 (MPS1), a novel coiled-coil protein of Arabidopsis thaliana, is required for meiotic spindle organization |
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| Authors: | Hua Jiang Fen-Fei Wang Yu-Ting Wu Xi Zhou Xue-Yong Huang Jun Zhu Ju-Fang Gao Rui-Bin Dong Kai-Ming Cao Zhong-Nan Yang |
| Institution: | Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;, National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China;, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, 100 Guilin Road, Shanghai 200234, China;, and School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province 330031, China |
| Abstract: | The spindle is essential for chromosome segregation during meiosis, but the molecular mechanism of meiotic spindle organization in higher plants is still not well understood. Here, we report on the identification and characterization of a plant-specific protein, MULTIPOLAR SPINDLE 1 (MPS1), which is involved in spindle organization in meiocytes of Arabidopsis thaliana . The homozygous mps1 mutant exhibits male and female sterility. Light microscopy showed that mps1 mutants produced multiple uneven spores during anther development, most of which aborted in later stages. Cytological analysis showed that chromosome segregation was abnormal in mps1 meiocytes. Immunolocalization showed unequal bipolar or multipolar spindles in mps1 meiocytes, which indicated that aberrant spindles resulted in disordered chromosome segregation. MPS1 encodes a 377-amino-acid protein with putative coiled-coil motifs. In situ hybridization analysis showed that MPS1 is strongly expressed in meiocytes. |
| Keywords: | anther ovule meiosis chromosome segregation spindle morphogenesis |