...Jessica E. M. Dunleavy; Maddison Graffeo; Kathryn Wozniak; Anne E. O'Connor; D. Jo Merriner; Joseph Nguyen; Ralf B. Schittenhelm; Brendan J. Houston; Moira K. O'Bryan ABSTRACT Katanins, a class of microtubule-severing enzymes, are potent M-phase regulators in oocytes and somatic cells. How...

... that microtubule severing, via the action of the meiotic AAA ATPase protein clade, plays a crucial role in this process. Here, we sought to elucidate the roles of spastin, an as-yet-unexplored member of this clade in spermatogenesis. Using a Spast KO/KO mouse model, we reveal that spastin loss resulted...

...Jessica E. M Dunleavy; Anne E. O'Connor; Hidenobu Okuda; D. Jo Merriner; Moira K. O'Bryan ABSTRACT Katanin microtubule-severing enzymes are crucial executers of microtubule regulation. Here, we have created an allelic loss-of-function series of the katanin regulatory B-subunit KATNB1 in mice. We...

... of female meiotic spindles requires MEI-1 and MEI-2, which constitute the microtubule-severing AAA+ ATPase Katanin. However, the role of MEI-2 is not known and whether MT severing is required for meiotic spindle assembly is unclear. Here, we show that the essential role of MEI-2 is to confer MT binding...