Mr James Bancroft, PhD Student, Biomedical Cell Biology Division at Warwick, will present this seminar, speaking on 'Functional Analysis Of The Kinetochore Proteins CENP-P & CENP-Q'.

Abstract

Accurate and timely alignment of chromosomes to the metaphase plate in mitosis is essential for eukaryotic cell division. The kinetochore is key within this process and is responsible for attaching chromosomes to spindle microtubules as well as controlling the dynamics of bound microtubule to generate force. It has recently been shown that the Constitutive Centromere Associated Network (CCAN) is the key kinetochore protein network responsible for controlling microtubule dynamics (Amaro et al 12: 319-329, 2010). The CENP-Q subunit of CCAN has previously been identified as a microtubule interacting protein, which also interacts with CENP-P. By employing live and fixed cell imaging we have identified that CENP-P and CENP-Q are essential for normal chromosome alignment as depletion of these proteins by RNAi causes chromosomes to become trapped around the spindle pole resulting in a prolonged mitotic delay. We have gained further insight into the function of CENP-Q by using a kinetochore-tracking assay, which revealed that kinetochores no longer make the normal possessive movements necessary for chromosome alignment. This is consistent with our biochemical data, which shows CENP-Q to be a microtubule catastrophe factor. I am currently searching for the domains in CENP-Q required for promoting microtubule catastrophe, binding kinetochores and binding to CENP-P.

Further information

All staff and students are welcome and there is no need to register in advance. If you have any queries, please contact Gemma Wild at G dot Wild at warwick dot ac dot uk

This research seminar is part of the Biomedical Cell Biology Seminar series, presented by the Division of Biomedical Cell Biology, Warwick Medical School.