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Vol. 17, Issue 5, 2356-2365, May 2006

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Mutations of the Drosophila Zinc Finger-encoding Gene vielfältig Impair Mitotic Cell Divisions and Cause Improper Chromosome Segregation

Nicole Staudt ^*, Sonja Fellert, Ho-Ryun Chung , Herbert Jäckle, and Gerd Vorbrüggen

Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Abteilung Molekulare Entwicklungsbiologie, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Submitted November 16, 2005; Revised February 28, 2006; Accepted March 1, 2006
Monitoring Editor: Yixian Zheng

We describe the molecular characterization and function of vielfältig (vfl), a X-chromosomal gene that encodes a nuclear protein with six Krüppel-like C2H2 zinc finger motifs. vfl transcripts are maternally contributed and ubiquitously distributed in eggs and preblastoderm embryos, excluding the germline precursor cells. Zygotically, vfl is expressed strongly in the developing nervous system, the brain, and in other mitotically active tissues. Vfl protein shows dynamic subcellular patterns during the cell cycle. In interphase nuclei, Vfl is associated with chromatin, whereas during mitosis, Vfl separates from chromatin and becomes distributed in a granular pattern in the nucleoplasm. Functional gain-of-function and lack-of-function studies show that vfl activity is necessary for normal mitotic cell divisions. Loss of vfl activity disrupts the pattern of mitotic waves in preblastoderm embryos, elicits asynchronous DNA replication, and causes improper chromosome segregation during mitosis.

The online version of this article contains supplemental material at MBC Online (http://www.molbiolcell.org).

^* Present address: RC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom;

Present address: MPI für Molekulare Genetik, Ihnestr. 73, 14195 Berlin, Germany.

Address correspondence to: Gerd Vorbrüggen (gvorbru{at}gwdg.de).