Centrosomal Protein 68kDa (CEP68)

CEP-68, a novel human marker gene for cultured chondrocytes.CEP-68 defines a new family of proteins and complements collagen type II as a new marker for stem-cell-based chondrogenic tissue engineering. Cep68 and rootletin depend both on each other and on C-Nap1 for centriole association. Unlike rootletin, overexpression of Cep68 does not induce extensive fibre formation, but Cep68 is readily recruited to ectopic rootletin fibres. These data suggest that Cep68 cooperates with rootletin and C-Nap1 in centrosome cohesion. By contrast, Cep215 associates with centrosomes throughout the cell cycle and does not appear to interact with Cep68, rootletin or C-Nap1. Cep215 functionally interacts with pericentrin, suggesting that both proteins influence centrosome cohesion through an indirect mechanism related to cytoskeletal dynamics.