The roles of anillin in the Drosophila nervous system

Abstract Anillin (Ani) is an evolutionarily conserved protein with a multi-domain structure that cross-links cytoskeletal proteins and plays an essential role in the formation of the contractile ring during cytokinesis. However, Ani is highly expressed in the human central nervous system (CNS), which does not actively divide. Moreover, it scaffolds myelin in the CNS of mice and modulates neuronal migration and growth in Caenorhabditis elegans. This protein is also highly expressed in the Drosophila CNS. However, its role remains unclear. In the present study, Ani was highly expressed in type I and II neuroblasts, whereas it was poorly expressed in the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), axons, and some neurons in the ventral nerve cord. In addition, neuron-specific ani knockdown flies had a short lifespan and larval locomotor defects, along with an abnormal morphology of the NMJ, learning disability, and a swollen CNS. These results show that Ani plays important roles not only in proliferating cells, but also in the Drosophila nervous system.