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A more recent version of this article appeared on June 1, 2009
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Submitted on January 2, 2009
Revised on March 12, 2009
Accepted on March 27, 2009
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616
Monitoring Editor: Tim Stearns
During female meiosis in animals, the meiotic spindle is attached to the egg cortex by one pole during anaphase to allow selective disposal of half the chromosomes in a polar body. In C. elegans, this anaphase spindle position is achieved sequentially through kinesin-1-dependent early translocation followed by anaphase promoting complex (APC)-dependent spindle rotation. Partial depletion of cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain by RNAi blocked spindle rotation without affecting early translocation. Dynein depletion also blocked the APC-dependent late translocation that occurs in kinesin-1-depleted embryos. Time-lapse imaging of GFP-tagged dynein heavy chain as well as immunofluorescence with dynein-specific antibodies revealed that dynein starts to accumulate at spindle poles just before the initiation of rotation or late translocation. Accumulation of dynein at poles was kinesin-1-independent and APC-dependent, just like dynein driven spindle movements. This represents a case of kinesin-1/dynein coordination in which these two motors of opposite polarity act sequentially and independently on a cargo to move it in the same direction.