New study by CBR researchers highlighted in this month's cover of EMBO Reports

Work led the laboratory of Raquel Oliveira, at Católica Biomedical Research Centre (CBR) and Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, revealed that an understudied chromatin factor plays two distinct and crucial roles during cell division or mitosis. This process is the subject of a great deal of fundamental research interest, as mitotic defects are often associated with developmental defects or other human pathologies, such as cancer and infertility.

Catarina Carmo, João Coelho, Raquel Oliveira and colleagues identified the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster SNF2 helicase-like protein Lodestar (Lds) as an important player in the mechanistic orchestration of the timing and coordination of chromosome assembly and transcriptional inactivation. The study finds that Lodestar holds a dual function in mitosis to drive the removal of nascent mRNAs and the resolution of entanglements between sister chromatids. These findings were highlighted on the September 2023 cover of EMBO reports, featuring an illustration of an early fruit fly embryo undergoing cell division, wherein the Lodestar protein can be seen on mitotic chromosomes.

The Carmo et al study was a collaborative effort, with important contributions from colleagues at the Universidade do Algarve and Universidade de Aveiro.