Reference Report

Reference
Citation	Pek, J.W., Kai, T. (2011). A role for vasa in regulating mitotic chromosome condensation in Drosophila. Curr. Biol. 21(1): 39--44. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID	FBrf0212718
Publication Type	Research paper
PubMed ID	21185189
PubMed Abstract	Vasa (Vas) is a conserved DEAD-box RNA helicase expressed in germline cells that localizes to a characteristic perinuclear structure called nuage. Previous studies have shown that Vas has diverse functions, with roles in regulating mRNA translation, germline differentiation, pole plasm assembly, and piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)-mediated transposon silencing. Although vas has also been implicated in the regulation of germline proliferation in Drosophila and mice, little is known about whether Vas plays a role during the mitotic cell cycle. Here, we report a translation-independent function of vas in regulating mitotic chromosome condensation in the Drosophila germline. During mitosis, Vas facilitates robust chromosomal localization of the condensin I components Barren (Barr) and CAP-D2. Vas specifically associates with Barr and CAP-D2, but not with CAP-D3 (a condensin II component). The mitotic function of Vas is mediated by the formation of perichromosomal Vas bodies during mitosis, which requires the piRNA pathway components aubergine and spindle-E. Our results suggest that Vas functions during mitosis and may link the piRNA pathway to mitotic chromosome condensation in Drosophila.
DOI	10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.051
Related Publication(s)
Recent Updates
Description	What does this section display? This section contains items that were added to this record for each release. It currently only tracks new links between this FlyBase report and other FlyBase data classes (e.g. genes, references, stocks) or controlled vocabulary terms (e.g. GO, anatomy terms). What does this section not display? This section does not currently display links that were removed or gene model changes.
Update Feed	Click the icon below to subscribe to this FlyBase record and receive updates automatically through your feed reader.
FB2013_03
FB2013_02
All updates	Click here to see a list of all updates to this record from FB2010_08 and on.
Associated Information
Comments
Associated Files
Other Information
Secondary IDs
Language of Publication	English
Additional Languages of Abstract
Also Published As
Parent Publication
Publication Type	Journal
Abbreviation	Curr. Biol.
Title	Current Biology
Publication Year	1991-
ISBN/ISSN	0960-9822
Data from Reference
Aberrations (1)
	Df(2L)BSC299
Alleles (14)
	AGO2⁴¹⁴ aub^HN2 aub^N11 bam^Δ86 barr^{Scer\UAS.P\T.T:Avic\GFP-EGFP} Cap-G^K4 Cap-G^Z1 Dcr-2^L811fsX Scer\GAL4^{nos.UTR.T:Hsim\VP16} spn-E¹ T:Avic\GFP^EGFP vas^PH165 vas^{T:Avic\GFP-EGFP} vas^{Δ617.T:Avic\GFP-EGFP}
Constructs (4)
	P{GAL4::VP16-nos.UTR} P{UASp-barr.EGFP} P{vas.Δ617.EGFP} P{vas-EGFP.N}
Genes (15)
	AGO2 aub bam barr CAP-D2 Cap-D3 Cap-G cid Dcr-2 His3 Scer\GAL4 spn-E Su(var)205 Top2 vas
Natural transposons (1)
	P-element