scholarly journals Kinetochore Localization of Spindle Checkpoint Proteins: Who Controls Whom?

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 4584-4596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Vigneron ◽  
Susana Prieto ◽  
Cyril Bernis ◽  
Jean-Claude Labbé ◽  
Anna Castro ◽  
...  

The spindle checkpoint prevents anaphase onset until all the chromosomes have successfully attached to the spindle microtubules. The mechanisms by which unattached kinetochores trigger and transmit a primary signal are poorly understood, although it seems to be dependent at least in part, on the kinetochore localization of the different checkpoint components. By using protein immunodepletion and mRNA translation in Xenopus egg extracts, we have studied the hierarchic sequence and the interdependent network that governs protein recruitment at the kinetochore in the spindle checkpoint pathway. Our results show that the first regulatory step of this cascade is defined by Aurora B/INCENP complex. Aurora B/INCENP controls the activation of a second regulatory level by inducing at the kinetochore the localization of Mps1, Bub1, Bub3, and CENP-E. This localization, in turn, promotes the recruitment to the kinetochore of Mad1/Mad2, Cdc20, and the anaphase promoting complex (APC). Unlike Aurora B/INCENP, Mps1, Bub1, and CENP-E, the downstream checkpoint protein Mad1 does not regulate the kinetochore localization of either Cdc20 or APC. Similarly, Cdc20 and APC do not require each other to be localized at these chromosome structures. Thus, at the last step of the spindle checkpoint cascade, Mad1/Mad2, Cdc20, and APC are recruited at the kinetochores independently from each other.

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1501-1511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunah Chung ◽  
Rey-Huei Chen

The spindle checkpoint prevents anaphase from occurring until all chromosomes have attached properly to the mitotic spindle. The checkpoint components Mad1 and Mad2 associate with unattached kinetochores and are probably involved in triggering the checkpoint. We now demonstrate that in Xenopus egg extracts Mad1 and Mad2 form a stable complex, whereas a fraction of Mad2 molecules is not bound to Mad1. The checkpoint establishment and maintenance are lost upon titrating out free Mad2 with an excess of Mad1 or a truncated Mad1 (amino acids 326–718, Mad1C) that contains the Mad2-binding region. Mad1N (amino acids 1–445) that binds kinetochores, but not Mad2, reduces Mad1 and Mad2 at kinetochores and abolishes checkpoint maintenance. Furthermore, the association between Mad2 and Cdc20, the activator for the anaphase-promoting complex, is enhanced under checkpoint-active condition compared with that at metaphase. Immunodepletion analysis shows that the Mad1-free Mad2 protein is unable to bind Cdc20, consistent with the model that kinetochore localization of Mad2 facilitates the formation of Mad2–Cdc20 complex. This study demonstrates that the ratio between Mad1 and Mad2 is critical for maintaining a pool of Mad1-free Mad2 that is necessary for the spindle checkpoint. We propose that Mad2 may become activated and dissociated from Mad1 at kinetochores and is replenished by the pool of Mad1-free Mad2.


2003 ◽  
Vol 163 (6) ◽  
pp. 1231-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Tunquist ◽  
Patrick A. Eyers ◽  
Lin G. Chen ◽  
Andrea L. Lewellyn ◽  
James L. Maller

In cells containing disrupted spindles, the spindle assembly checkpoint arrests the cell cycle in metaphase. The budding uninhibited by benzimidazole (Bub) 1, mitotic arrest-deficient (Mad) 1, and Mad2 proteins promote this checkpoint through sustained inhibition of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome. Vertebrate oocytes undergoing meiotic maturation arrest in metaphase of meiosis II due to a cytoplasmic activity termed cytostatic factor (CSF), which appears not to be regulated by spindle dynamics. Here, we show that microinjection of Mad1 or Mad2 protein into early Xenopus laevis embryos causes metaphase arrest like that caused by Mos. Microinjection of antibodies to either Mad1 or Mad2 into maturing oocytes blocks the establishment of CSF arrest in meiosis II, and immunodepletion of either protein blocked the establishment of CSF arrest by Mos in egg extracts. A Mad2 mutant unable to oligomerize (Mad2 R133A) did not cause cell cycle arrest in blastomeres or in egg extracts. Once CSF arrest has been established, maintenance of metaphase arrest requires Mad1, but not Mad2 or Bub1. These results suggest a model in which CSF arrest by Mos is mediated by the Mad1 and Mad2 proteins in a manner distinct from the spindle checkpoint.


2016 ◽  
Vol 214 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Grenfell ◽  
Rebecca Heald ◽  
Magdalena Strzelecka

Transcription at the centromere of chromosomes plays an important role in kinetochore assembly in many eukaryotes, and noncoding RNAs contribute to activation of the mitotic kinase Aurora B. However, little is known about how mitotic RNA processing contributes to spindle assembly. We found that inhibition of transcription initiation or RNA splicing, but not translation, leads to spindle defects in Xenopus egg extracts. Spliceosome inhibition resulted in the accumulation of high molecular weight centromeric transcripts, concomitant with decreased recruitment of the centromere and kinetochore proteins CENP-A, CENP-C, and NDC80 to mitotic chromosomes. In addition, blocking transcript synthesis or processing during mitosis caused accumulation of MCAK, a microtubule depolymerase, on the spindle, indicating misregulation of Aurora B. These findings suggest that co-transcriptional recruitment of the RNA processing machinery to nascent mitotic transcripts is an important step in kinetochore and spindle assembly and challenge the idea that RNA processing is globally repressed during mitosis.


Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Yamano ◽  
Michelle Trickey ◽  
Margaret Grimaldi ◽  
Yuu Kimata

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3806-3818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo V. Orjalo ◽  
Alexei Arnaoutov ◽  
Zhouxin Shen ◽  
Yekaterina Boyarchuk ◽  
Samantha G. Zeitlin ◽  
...  

The Nup107-160 complex is a critical subunit of the nuclear pore. This complex localizes to kinetochores in mitotic mammalian cells, where its function is unknown. To examine Nup107-160 complex recruitment to kinetochores, we stained human cells with antisera to four complex components. Each antibody stained not only kinetochores but also prometaphase spindle poles and proximal spindle fibers, mirroring the dual prometaphase localization of the spindle checkpoint proteins Mad1, Mad2, Bub3, and Cdc20. Indeed, expanded crescents of the Nup107-160 complex encircled unattached kinetochores, similar to the hyperaccumulation observed of dynamic outer kinetochore checkpoint proteins and motors at unattached kinetochores. In mitotic Xenopus egg extracts, the Nup107-160 complex localized throughout reconstituted spindles. When the Nup107-160 complex was depleted from extracts, the spindle checkpoint remained intact, but spindle assembly was rendered strikingly defective. Microtubule nucleation around sperm centrosomes seemed normal, but the microtubules quickly disassembled, leaving largely unattached sperm chromatin. Notably, Ran-GTP caused normal assembly of microtubule asters in depleted extracts, indicating that this defect was upstream of Ran or independent of it. We conclude that the Nup107-160 complex is dynamic in mitosis and that it promotes spindle assembly in a manner that is distinct from its functions at interphase nuclear pores.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1817-1831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Vorlaufer ◽  
Jan-Michael Peters

The initiation of anaphase and exit from mitosis depend on the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), which mediates the ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of anaphase-inhibiting proteins and mitotic cyclins. We have analyzed whether protein phosphatases are required for mitotic APC activation. In Xenopus egg extracts APC activation occurs normally in the presence of protein phosphatase 1 inhibitors, suggesting that the anaphase defects caused by protein phosphatase 1 mutation in several organisms are not due to a failure to activate the APC. Contrary to this, the initiation of mitotic cyclin B proteolysis is prevented by inhibitors of protein phosphatase 2A such as okadaic acid. Okadaic acid induces an activity that inhibits cyclin B ubiquitination. We refer to this activity as inhibitor of mitotic proteolysis because it also prevents the degradation of other APC substrates. A similar activity exists in extracts of Xenopus eggs that are arrested at the second meiotic metaphase by the cytostatic factor activity of the protein kinase mos. In Xenopus eggs, the initiation of anaphase II may therefore be prevented by an inhibitor of APC-dependent ubiquitination.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. MacCallum ◽  
Ana Losada ◽  
Ryuji Kobayashi ◽  
Tatsuya Hirano

We previously characterized major components of mitotic chromosomes assembled in Xenopus laevis egg extracts and collectively referred to them as Xenopuschromosome–associated polypeptides (XCAPs). They included five subunits of the condensin complex essential for chromosome condensation. In an effort to identify novel proteins involved in this process, we have isolated XCAP-F and found it to be theXenopus ortholog of ISWI, a chromatin remodeling ATPase. ISWI exists in two major complexes in Xenopus egg extracts. The first complex contains ACF1 and two low-molecular-weight subunits, most likely corresponding to Xenopus CHRAC. The second complex is a novel one that contains theXenopus ortholog of the human Williams syndrome transcription factor (WSTF). In the absence of the ISWI complexes, the deposition of histones onto DNA is apparently normal, but the spacing of nucleosomes is greatly disturbed. Despite the poor spacing of nucleosomes, ISWI depletion has little effect on DNA replication, chromosome condensation or sister chromatid cohesion in the cell-free extracts. The association of ISWI with chromatin is cell cycle regulated and is under the control of the INCENP-aurora B kinase complex that phosphorylates histone H3 during mitosis. Apparently contradictory to the generally accepted model, we find that neither chromosome condensation nor chromosomal targeting of condensin is compromised when H3 phosphorylation is drastically reduced by depletion of INCENP-aurora B.


2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 2752-2765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Stephanie C. Ems-McClung ◽  
Claire E. Walczak

During mitosis, mitotic centromere-associated kinesin (MCAK) localizes to chromatin/kinetochores, a cytoplasmic pool, and spindle poles. Its localization and activity in the chromatin region are regulated by Aurora B kinase; however, how the cytoplasmic- and pole-localized MCAK are regulated is currently not clear. In this study, we used Xenopus egg extracts to form spindles in the absence of chromatin and centrosomes and found that MCAK localization and activity are tightly regulated by Aurora A. This regulation is important to focus microtubules at aster centers and to facilitate the transition from asters to bipolar spindles. In particular, we found that MCAK colocalized with NuMA and XMAP215 at the center of Ran asters where its activity is regulated by Aurora A-dependent phosphorylation of S196, which contributes to proper pole focusing. In addition, we found that MCAK localization at spindle poles was regulated through another Aurora A phosphorylation site (S719), which positively enhances bipolar spindle formation. This is the first study that clearly defines a role for MCAK at the spindle poles as well as identifies another key Aurora A substrate that contributes to spindle bipolarity.


1998 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rey-Huei Chen ◽  
Andrej Shevchenko ◽  
Matthias Mann ◽  
Andrew W. Murray

The spindle checkpoint prevents the metaphase to anaphase transition in cells containing defects in the mitotic spindle or in chromosome attachment to the spindle. When the checkpoint protein Xmad2 is depleted from Xenopus egg extracts, adding Xmad2 to its endogenous concentration fails to restore the checkpoint, suggesting that other checkpoint component(s) were depleted from the extract through their association with Xmad2. Mass spectrometry provided peptide sequences from an 85-kD protein that coimmunoprecipitates with Xmad2 from egg extracts. This information was used to clone XMAD1, which encodes a homologue of the budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) checkpoint protein Mad1. Xmad1 is essential for establishing and maintaining the spindle checkpoint in egg extracts. Like Xmad2, Xmad1 localizes to the nuclear envelope and the nucleus during interphase, and to those kinetochores that are not bound to spindle microtubules during mitosis. Adding an anti-Xmad1 antibody to egg extracts inactivates the checkpoint and prevents Xmad2 from localizing to unbound kinetochores. In the presence of excess Xmad2, neither chromosomes nor Xmad1 are required to activate the spindle checkpoint, suggesting that the physiological role of Xmad1 is to recruit Xmad2 to kinetochores that have not bound microtubules.


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