Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: DCTN3
Cytogenetic location: 9p13.3 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 9:34,613,546-34,620,495 (from NCBI)
DCTN3 is a component of the dynactin macromolecular complex. Dynactin, along with dynein (see 600112), is required for diverse cellular functions, including intracellular vesicular transport, spindle formation, chromosome movement, nuclear positioning, and axonogenesis (summary by Karki et al., 1998).
Using recombinant dynein intermediate chain (see 603331) as ligand, Karki et al. (1998) affinity purified DCTN3, which they called p22, from brain. They used the amino acid sequences of peptide fragments to clone full-length DCTN3 from a neuron cDNA library. The deduced 185-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of about 21 kD and is primarily an alpha-helical protein with no significant coiled-coil regions. Northern blot analysis revealed expression of a 1-kb transcript in all tissues examined, with highest expression in muscle and pancreas and lower levels in brain. Western blot analysis of rat brain cytosol revealed an apparent molecular mass of about 22 kD.
By affinity chromatography of rat brain cytosol, Karki et al. (1998) found that Dctn3 binds directly to the p150 subunit of dynactin (DCTN1; 601143). Immunolocalization of Dctn3 in rat cell lines revealed that it associates with punctate cytoplasmic structures. Dctn3 localized to the centrosome during interphase and to kinetochores and to spindle poles throughout mitosis. Cytoplasmic dynein and dynactin subunits, including DCTN3, localized to the cleavage furrow and to the midbodies of dividing cells.
By radiation hybrid analysis, Mills and Jackson (2001) mapped the DCTN3 gene to chromosome 9p13.
Karki, S., LaMonte, B., Holzbaur, E. L. F. Characterization of the p22 subunit of dynactin reveals the localization of cytoplasmic dynein and dynactin to the midbody of dividing cells. J. Cell Biol. 142: 1023-1034, 1998. Note: Erratum: J. Cell Biol. 143: page following 560 only, 1998. [PubMed: 9722614] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.142.4.1023]
Mills, D. R., Jackson, C. L. Assignment of p22 dynactin light chain (DCTN3) to human chromosome region 9p13 by radiation hybrid mapping. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 92: 166 only, 2001. [PubMed: 11306820] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1159/000056892]