Xklp1, a chromosomal Xenopus kinesin-like protein essential for spindle organization and chromosome positioning

Abstract

Xklp1 is a novel Xenopus kinesin-like protein with a motor domain at the amino terminus, nuclear localization sequences in the stalk, and a putative zinc finger-like sequence in the tail. It is nuclear during interphase and chromosomal during mitosis. During late anaphase, a fraction of the protein relocalizes to the spindle interzone and accumulates in the midbody during telophase. Depletion of Xklp1 protein by antisense oligo knockout in oocytes leads to defective mitosis during the first cell cycles following fertilization. The bipolarity of spindles assembled in vitro in the presence of anti-Xklp1 antibodies is unstable, and the chromosomes fail to congress on the metaphase plate.