The Caenorhabditis elegans one-cell embryo polarizes in response to a cue from the paternally donated centrosome and asymmetrically segregates cell fate determinants that direct the developmental program of the worm. We have found that genes encoding putative deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) are required for polarization of one-cell embryos. Maternal loss of the proteins MATH-33 and USP-47 leads...

T-killer cells eliminate infected and cancerous cells with precision by positioning their centrosome near the interface (immunological synapse) with the target cell. The mechanism of centrosome positioning has remained controversial, in particular the role of microtubule dynamics in it. We re-examined the issue in the experimental model of Jurkat cells presented with a T cell receptor-binding a...

Ehrenwörtliche Versicherung Hiermit versichere ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne unerlaubte Hilfsmittel angefertigt habe.associated protein and a permanent centrosomal resident involved in centrosome duplication. (DdCrp), the most divergent member of the centrin family, possesses only two EF-hands and dissociates from the centrosome during mitosis. Eur. (2000). Compara...

The mechanism of centrosome inheritance during parthenogenetic development has long been an outstanding mystery of cell biology. New observations of centrosome inheritance in hymenopterans have provided our first direct insights into this enigmatic process.

in human fertilization, the sperm centrosome nucleates a radial array of microtubules called the sperm aster. the sperm aster is responsible for apposition of male and female pronuclei, and later gives rise to the first meiotic spindle. the objective of this study was to determine microtubule assembly and chromatin configuration in rabbit oocytes following intracytoplasmic injection with human ...

The unique ability of centrosomes to nucleate and organize microtubules makes them unrivaled conductors of important interphase processes, such as intracellular payload traffic, cell polarity, cell locomotion, and organization of the immunologic synapse. But it is in mitosis that centrosomes loom large, for they orchestrate, with clockmaker's precision, the assembly and functioning of the mitot...

Centrosomes play critical roles in processes that ensure proper segregation of chromosomes and maintain the genetic stability of human cells. They contribute to mitotic spindle organization and regulate aspects of cytokinesis and cell cycle progression. We and others have shown that centrosomes are abnormal in most aggressive carcinomas. Moreover, centrosome defects have been implicated in chro...

Relatively little is known about the mechanisms used by somatic cells to regulate the replication of the centrosome complex. Centrosome doubling was studied in CHO cells by electron microscopy and immunofluorescence microscopy using human autoimmune anticentrosome antiserum, and by Northern blotting using the cDNA encoding portion of the centrosome autoantigen pericentriolar material (PCM)-1. C...

A popular hypothesis for centrosome separation during spindle formation and anaphase is that pushing forces are generated between interacting microtubules (MTs) of opposite polarity, derived from opposing centrosomes. However, this mechanism is not consistent with the observation that centrosomes in vertebrate cells continue to separate during prometaphase when their MT arrays no longer overlap...