Supplementary materials for PhD thesis - 'A novel role of Rab5 GTPase in chromosome alignment during mitosis in Drosophila melanogaster'

<p dir="ltr">This media comprises the files contained on a CD-ROM which was attached to the thesis when it was submitted in 2010. It was uploaded to ORDO in 2025 for preservation purposes. For more information, please refer to the thesis  “A novel role of Rab5 GTPase in chromosome alignment during mitosis in Drosophila melanogaster” via ORO. </p><p dir="ltr">Abstract </p><p dir="ltr">Rab5 is a conserved master regulator of membrane trafficking; it regulates the formation of early endosomes as well as their transport along microtubules and fusion to the target organelles. I identified Rab5 GTPase in a phenotypic screen for small GTPases involved during mitosis. In this thesis, I describe a novel role for Rab5 in cell division in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>. Inactivation of Rab5 by RNAi or mutation caused chromosome misalignment. Rab5 associated with Lamin <i>in vivo</i> and was required for the disassembly of the nuclear envelope at mitotic entry. Moreover, the release of the nuclear protein Mud, the <i>Drosophila</i> counterpart of NuMA, and its accumulation at the spindle poles was impaired in <i>Rab5</i> RNAi cells. Consistent with this, Mud depletion phenocopied the Rab5 chromosome mis-alignment defect, confirming that this protein regulates spindle formation and chromosome congression like NuMA. My results unravel a novel role for Rab5 during mitosis and indicate that this GTPase is necessary for nuclear envelope disassembly at mitotic entry and proper distribution of spindle matrix components.</p>