Cell Division Machines, Centrioles and Cilia
The Glover lab studies the cell division cycle in D. melanogaster as a model. It discovered the principal mitotic protein kinases, Polo and Aurora A, each required for centrosome function and spindle bipolarity in mitosis and meiosis. We wish to know how the centriole, an evolutionarily ancient structure at the centrosome’s core, is assembled and precisely duplicated each cell cycle.
Centriole abnormalities resulting from mutation in the Drosophila gene for centriolar protein Rcd4
In Drosophila, we make precise mutations in genes encoding individual centriole molecules and determine the cellular and developmental consequences. We then determine how centriole components fit together and analyze structure-function relationships from effects on whole animal biology to the level of structural biology.
In the mouse, we model the consequences of centrosome amplification by over-expressing the master regulator of centriole duplication, Plk4 to model a process that goes awry in human cancer
