Re-examining the role of Drosophila Sas-4 in centrosome assembly using two-colour-3D-SIM FRAP

Abstract

Centrosomes have many important functions and comprise a "mother" and “daughter” centriole surrounded by Pericentriolar Material (PCM). The mother centriole recruits and organises the PCM and templates the formation of the "daughter" centriole. It has been reported that several important Drosophila PCM-organising proteins are recruited to centrioles from the cytosol as part of large cytoplasmic "S-CAP" complexes that contain the centriole protein Sas-4. In a previous paper [1] we showed that one of these proteins, Cnn, and another key PCM-organising protein, Spd-2, are recruited around the mother centriole before spreading outwards to form a scaffold that supports mitotic PCM assembly; the recruitment of Cnn and Spd-2 is dependent on another S-CAP protein, Asl. We show here, however, that Cnn, Spd-2 and Asl are not recruited to the mother centriole as part of a complex with Sas-4. Thus, PCM recruitment in fly embryos does not appear to require cytosolic S-CAP complexes.