Polarized cells display two highly specialized plasma membrane subdomains: the apical and basolateral domains. Apical transport is mediated by a direct route from the Golgi and an indirect route, referred to as transcytosis, involving the transport of the protein to the basolateral membrane followed by its internalization and subsequent transcellular transport to the apical subdomain. MAL2 is a component of the raft-associated machinery for basolateral-to-apical transcytosis [, ].
The DASH complex is a ~10 subunit microtubule-binding complex that is transferred to the kinetochore prior to mitosis []. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker's yeast) DASH forms both rings and spiral structures on microtubules in vitro [, ]. Components of the DASH complex, including Dam1, Duo1, Spc34, Dad1 and Ask1, are essential and connect the centromere to the plus end of spindle microtubules []. Throughout the cell cycle Dad1 remains bound to kinetochores and its association is dependent on the Mis6 and Mal2 [].
This entry represents centromere protein O (CENP-O) and its homologues in yeasts, Mcm21 and Mal2. In humans, centromere protein O (CENP-O) is a component of the CENPA-CAD (nucleosome distal) complex, a complex recruited to centromeres which is involved in assembly of kinetochore proteins, mitotic progression and chromosome segregation []. CENP-O mediates the attachment of the centromere to the mitotic spindle by forming essential interactions between the microtubule-associated outer kinetochore proteins and the centromere-associated inner kinetochore proteins. CENP-O modulates the kinetochore-bound levels of NDC80 complex []. It may be involved in incorporation of newly synthesized CENP-A into centromeres via its interaction with the CENPA-NAC complex [].In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Mcm21 is a component of the kinetochore sub-complex COMA (Ctf19p, Okp1p, Mcm21p, Ame1p), which links kinetochore subunits with subunits bound to microtubules during kinetochore assembly [, ]. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Mal2 is a component of the Sim4 complex, which is required for loading the DASH complex onto the kinetochore via interaction with Dad1 []. It plays a role in the maintenance of core chromatin structure and kinetochore function [].
