[Summary]
・Discovery of the protein termed CAMP regulating chromosome segregation
・CAMP is essential to maintain attachment between chromosomes and microtubules
・Possible involvement with cancer development caused by chromosomal abnormality

 In order to transmit genetic information accurately, 46 chromosomes should be delivered to each daughter cell at every cell division.  Each chromosome is replicated before cell division and forms a pair.  Cells in mitosis have two poles (centrosomes) from which fiber-like microtubules come out.  Chromosome segregation occurs when paired chromosomes attach to microtubules from opposite spindle poles and are pulled toward them.

 A research group led by Associate Professor Kozo Tanaka and Go Itoh, Postdoctoral Fellow, at Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University has discovered a new protein associated with chromosome segregation and named it CAMP in collaboration with Professor Akira Yasui, Shin-ichiro Kanno, Lecturer, at Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Professor Kensaku Mizuno, Assistant Professor Shuhei Chiba at Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Kazuhiko Uchida, Postdoctoral Scientist, and Toru Hirota, Chief of Experimental Pathology, at The Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research.  CAMP localizes to chromosomes and the spindle.  In CAMP-depleted cells, chromosomes can not be segregated equally but distortedly because attachment to microtubules is disrupted when chromosomes are pulled by microtubules.  It is assumed that CAMP is involved in the stable attachment between chromosomes and microtubules.

 The research was conducted as part of “Program for the development of independent research environment for young researchers” by Japan Science and Technology Agency.

 The achievement was published online in The EMBO Journal, a European scientific journal, on November 9, 2010.  The paper’s title is “CAMP (C13orf8, ZNF828) is a novel regulator of kinetochore-microtubule attachment.”

[Perspective]
 Chromosome abnormality is observed in the most of cancer cells with less or more than 46 chromosomes, which seems to be closely associated with cancer development.  CAMP, which regulates chromosome segregation, might be involved in chromosome abnormality observed in cancer cells.

More Information (Japanese)

[Contact]
Associate Professor Kozo Tanaka
Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University
Address: 4-1 Seiryo-machi Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan
TEL: +81-22-717-8491
E-mail: k.tanaka＊idac.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)