Gene ontology analysis of the centrosome proteomes of Drosophila and human

The centrosome is a complex cell organelle in higher eukaryotic cells that functions in microtubule organization and is integrated into major cellular signaling pathways.1-3 For example a tight link exists between cell cycle regulation and centrosome duplication, as centrosome number must be precisely controlled to ensure high fidelity of chromosome segregation.4 The analysis of the centrosome's protein composition provides the opportunity for a better understanding of centrosome function and to identify possible links to cellular signaling pathways.5,6 Our proteomics study of the Drosophila centrosome recently identified 251 centrosome candidate proteins that we subsequently characterized by RNAi in Drosophila SL2 cells and classified according to their function in centrosome duplication/segregation, structure maintenance and cell cycle regulation.7 Interestingly, functional characterization of their human orthologue proteins revealed the highest functional conservation in the process of centrosome dupli...