Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Biology/Molecular, Cellular, and Organismal Biology

First Advisor

Linda S. Huang

Second Advisor

Alexey Veraksa

Third Advisor

Kellee Siegfried, Rachel Skvirsky, Soni Lacefield

Abstract

The specialized cellular division process of meiosis is the means by which a diploid cell produces four haploid gametes, which allows for sexual reproduction. For meiosis to be successfully completed, cells must undergo several structural changes, including disassembly of the spindle apparatus and partitioning into the four daughter cells. In this work, I used the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which undergoes meiosis as part of the developmental pathway of sporulation. Previous studies have shown that the genes encoding the Ste20-family kinase Sps1 and the Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC/C) activating subunit Ama1 are both required for spindle disassembly and meiotic cytokinesis. In this work, I showed that the phenotypes of sps1D and ama1D mutants are distinct, suggesting that they control different subprocesses of spindle disassembly. In addition, although they occur sequentially, spindle disassembly is not sufficient to induce cytokinesis. Finally, I examined the known microtubule-associated proteins Ase1, Bim1, and Cin8, and found that AMA1 is required for the removal of Ase1 and Cin8, while SPS1 is required for removal of Bim1. Thus, both pathways represented by SPS1 and AMA1 are required for complete spindle disassembly following meiosis II.

Comments

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