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Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on October 18, 2007.

Genetics, Vol. 177, 1609-1620, November 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.078386

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SPD-3 Is Required for Spindle Alignment in Caenorhabditis elegans Embryos and Localizes to Mitochondria

Maria V. Dinkelmann*,{dagger}, Haining Zhang*,{dagger}, Ahna R. Skop* and John G. White{dagger},{ddagger},1

* Laboratory of Genetics, {dagger} Laboratory of Molecular Biology and {ddagger} Department of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

1 Corresponding author: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, 1525 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706.
E-mail: jwhite1{at}wisc.edu

During the development of multicellular organisms, cellular diversity is often achieved through asymmetric cell divisions that produce two daughter cells having different developmental potentials. Prior to an asymmetric cell division, cellular components segregate to opposite ends of the cell defining an axis of polarity. The mitotic spindle rotationally aligns along this axis of polarity, thereby ensuring that the cleavage plane is positioned such that segregated components end up in individual daughter cells. Here we report our characterization of a novel gene required for spindle alignment in Caenorhabditis elegans. During the first mitosis in spd-3(oj35) embryos the spindle failed to align along the anterior/posterior axis, leading to abnormal cleavage configurations. spd-3(oj35) embryos had additional defects reminiscent of dynein/dynactin loss-of-function possibly caused by the mislocalization of dynactin. Surprisingly, we found that SPD-3::GFP localized to mitochondria. Consistent with this localization, spd-3(oj35) worms exhibited slow growth and increased ATP concentrations, which are phenotypes similar to those described for other mitochondrial mutants in C. elegans. To our knowledge, SPD-3 is the first example of a link between mitochondria and spindle alignment in C. elegans.






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Copyright © 2007 by the Genetics Society of America.