Student Research - Biology
Katherine Weber
Characterization of Chindogu, a Drosophila kinesin-I binding protein
Abstract: Organization and maintenance of compartmentalization in eukaryotic cells is accomplished by microtubule motor proteins, which transport cargos to specific cellular destinations. One superfamily of these motor proteins is kinesin. Kinesin-I contains a motor domain that moves along microtubules and a tail domain that binds intracellular cargos and is involved in regulation of the motor domain. Proteins that bind the kinesin tail domain mediate and regulate interactions between kinesin and its cargos. The Drosophila melanogaster protein Chindogu was identified in a yeast two-hybrid screen for proteins that interact with the kinesin tail domain. We have shown that Chindogu mutant alleles cause maternal effect or zygotic lethality, that Chindogu mutants develop slowly, and that Chindogu mutants display defects in mRNA developmental marker localization in the oocyte that are similar to those present in kinesin mutants. Taken together, these results suggest a possible role for Chindogu in Drosophila oogenesis and embryogenesis, and more specifically in the kinesin-mediated transport of developmental markers during these processes. We are examining the localization of additional mRNA developmental markers and determining the relative composition of ribosomal subunits in wild-type and Chindogu mutant embryos in order to further investigate this model for Chindogu function.
Katherine was also chosen as a Marshall Scholar, and will study for a year in Cambridge, England.
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