The dynamics of centrosome assembly in the early Drosophila embryo

<p>Centrosomes are important for many cellular processes. They comprise of a pair of centrioles surrounded by an amorphous pericentriolar material (PCM). In Drosophila, although more than hundreds of proteins localise to PCM, it is believed that the PCM assembly is governed by a small subset o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wong, SS
Other Authors: Raff, J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2021
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Summary:<p>Centrosomes are important for many cellular processes. They comprise of a pair of centrioles surrounded by an amorphous pericentriolar material (PCM). In Drosophila, although more than hundreds of proteins localise to PCM, it is believed that the PCM assembly is governed by a small subset of proteins—Polo, Spd-2 and Cnn forming a network-like underlying scaffold. This scaffold appears to be plastic and adopts different behaviours in many cell types. Therefore, Drosophila centrosomes allow us to understand how a simple set of proteins are wired to satisfy biochemical and biophysical needs. In this thesis, I describe my discovery that Cnn scaffold assembly is initiated and timed by a Polo oscillation. Centriolar Ana1 helps recruit Polo, which inhibits Ana1 activity, resulting in a time-delayed negative feedback oscillation. Polo then triggers a Spd-2 oscillation which together build the Cnn scaffold. In the process, I created an automated analysis pipeline to look into the scaffold assembly in different systems efficiently. Moreover, I discovered that in addition to a Cnn solid scaffold centrosomes also possess a liquid TACC scaffold that is organised by Spd-2 and Aurora A. The liquid TACC scaffold can enrich many centrosomal proteins.</p>