Mulet (mlt) encodes a tubulin-binding cofactor E-like homolog required for spermatid individualization in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Spermatogenesis in all animal species occurs within a syncytium. Only at the very end of spermatogenesis are individual sperm cells resolved from this syncytium in a process known as individualization. Individualization in Drosophila begins as a membrane-cytoskeletal complex known as the individualization complex (IC) assembles around the sperm heads and proceeds down the flagella, removing cytoplasm from between the sperm tails and shrink-wrapping each spermatid into its own plasma membrane as it travels. The mulet (mlt) mutation results in severely disrupted ICs, indicating that the mlt gene product is required for individualization. Inverse PCR followed by cycle sequencing maps all known P-insertion alleles of mlt to two overlapping genes, CG12214 (the Drosophila tubulin-binding cofacto

SUBMITTER: Fabrizio JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3519661 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature