An essential cell division gene of Drosophila, absent from Saccharomyces, encodes an unusual protein with tubulin-like and myosin-like peptide motifs.

ABSTRACT: Null mutations at the misato locus of Drosophila melanogaster are associated with irregular chromosomal segregation at cell division. The consequences for morphogenesis are that mutant larvae are almost devoid of imaginal disk tissue, have a reduction in brain size, and die before the late third-instar larval stage. To analyze these findings, we isolated cDNAs in and around the misato locus, mapped the breakpoints of chromosomal deficiencies, determined which transcript corresponded to the misato gene, rescued the cell division defects in transgenic organisms, and sequenced the genomic DNA. Database searches revealed that misato codes for a novel protein, the N-terminal half of which contains a mixture of peptide motifs found in alpha-, beta-, and gamma-tubulins, as well as a motif related

SUBMITTER: Miklos GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC24654 | biostudies-literature | 1997 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature