The Drosophila Geminin homolog: roles for Geminin in limiting DNA replication, in anaphase and in neurogenesis
- 1Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Trescowthick Research Laboratories, Locked Bag 1, Melbourne, Victoria 8006, Australia; 2Division of Signal Transduction, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA; 3Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Australia
Abstract
We have identified a Drosophila homolog of the DNA replication initiation inhibitor Geminin (Dm geminin) and show that it has all of the properties of Xenopus and human Geminin. During Drosophila development, Dm Geminin is present in cycling cells; protein accumulates during S phase and is degraded at the metaphase to anaphase transition. Overexpression of Dm gemininin embryos inhibits DNA replication, but cells enter mitosis arresting in metaphase, as in dup (cdt1) mutants, and undergo apoptosis. Overexpression of Dm Geminin also induces ectopic neural differentiation. Dm geminin mutant embryos exhibit anaphase defects at cycle 16 and increased numbers of S phase cells later in embryogenesis. In a partially female-sterile Dm geminin mutant, excessive DNA amplification in the ovarian follicle cells is observed. Our data suggest roles for Dm Geminin in limiting DNA replication, in anaphase and in neural differentiation.
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Footnotes
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↵4 These authors contributed equally to this work.
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↵5 Corresponding author.
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E-MAIL h.richardson{at}pmci.unimelb.edu.au; FAX 613-965-614-11.
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Article and publication are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.916201.
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- Received June 4, 2001.
- Accepted August 30, 2001.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
