The checkpoint control for anaphase onset does not monitor excess numbers of spindle poles or bipolar spindle symmetry

1997 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Sluder ◽  
E.A. Thompson ◽  
F.J. Miller ◽  
J. Hayes ◽  
C.L. Rieder

Exit from mitosis in animal cells is substantially delayed when spindle assembly is inhibited, spindle bipolarity is disrupted, or when a monopolar spindle is formed. These observations have led to the proposal that animal cells have a ‘spindle assembly’ checkpoint for the metaphase-anaphase transition that monitors bipolar spindle organization. However, the existence of such a checkpoint is uncertain because perturbations in spindle organization can produce unattached kinetochores, which by themselves are known to delay anaphase onset. In this study we have tested if cells monitor bipolar spindle organization, independent of kinetochore attachment, by analyzing the duration of mitosis in sea urchin zygotes and vertebrate somatic cells containing multipolar spindles in which all kinetochores are attached to spindle poles. We found that sea urchin zygotes containing tripolar or tetrapolar spindles progressed from nuclear envelope breakdown to anaphase onset with normal timing. We also found that the presence of supernumerary, unpaired spindle poles did not greatly prolong mitosis. Observation of untreated PtK1 cells that formed tripolar or tetrapolar spindles revealed that they progressed through mitosis, on average, at the normal rate. More importantly, the interval between the bipolar attachment of the last monooriented chromosome and anaphase onset was normal. Thus, neither of these cell types can detect the presence of gross aberrations in spindle architecture that inevitably lead to aneuploidy. We conclude that animal cells do not have a checkpoint for the metaphase-anaphase transition that monitors defects in spindle architecture independent of the checkpoint that monitors kinetochore attachment to the spindle. For dividing cells in which spindle microtubule assembly is not experimentally compromised, we propose that the completion of kinetochore attachment is the event which limits the time of the metaphase-anaphase transition.

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Edwards ◽  
Gilliane Maton ◽  
Nelly Gareil ◽  
Julie C Canman ◽  
Julien Dumont

Accurate chromosome segregation relies on bioriented amphitelic attachments of chromosomes to microtubules of the mitotic spindle, in which sister chromatids are connected to opposite spindle poles. BUB-1 is a protein of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) that coordinates chromosome attachment with anaphase onset. BUB-1 is also required for accurate sister chromatid segregation independently of its SAC function, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here we show that, in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, BUB-1 accelerates the establishment of non-merotelic end-on kinetochore-microtubule attachments by recruiting the RZZ complex and its downstream partner dynein-dynactin at the kinetochore. In parallel, BUB-1 limits attachment maturation by the SKA complex. This activity opposes kinetochore-microtubule attachment stabilisation promoted by CLS-2CLASP-dependent kinetochore-microtubule assembly. BUB-1 is therefore a SAC component that coordinates the function of multiple downstream kinetochore-associated proteins to ensure accurate chromosome segregation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2275-2291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Althoff ◽  
Roger E. Karess ◽  
Christian F. Lehner

Monopolar spindle 1 (Mps1) is essential for the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which prevents anaphase onset in the presence of misaligned chromosomes. Moreover, Mps1 kinase contributes in a SAC-independent manner to the correction of erroneous initial attachments of chromosomes to the spindle. Our characterization of the Drosophila homologue reveals yet another SAC-independent role. As in yeast, modest overexpression of Drosophila Mps1 is sufficient to delay progression through mitosis during metaphase, even though chromosome congression and metaphase alignment do not appear to be affected. This delay in metaphase depends on the SAC component Mad2. Although Mps1 overexpression in mad2 mutants no longer causes a metaphase delay, it perturbs anaphase. Sister kinetochores barely move apart toward spindle poles. However, kinetochore movements can be restored experimentally by separase-independent resolution of sister chromatid cohesion. We propose therefore that Mps1 inhibits sister chromatid separation in a SAC-independent manner. Moreover, we report unexpected results concerning the requirement of Mps1 dimerization and kinase activity for its kinetochore localization in Drosophila. These findings further expand Mps1's significance for faithful mitotic chromosome segregation and emphasize the importance of its careful regulation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil J. Ganem ◽  
Duane A. Compton

Although the microtubule-depolymerizing KinI motor Kif2a is abundantly expressed in neuronal cells, we now show it localizes to centrosomes and spindle poles during mitosis in cultured cells. RNAi-induced knockdown of Kif2a expression inhibited cell cycle progression because cells assembled monopolar spindles. Bipolar spindle assembly was restored in cells lacking Kif2a by treatments that altered microtubule assembly (nocodazole), eliminated kinetochore–microtubule attachment (loss of Nuf2), or stabilized microtubule plus ends at kinetochores (loss of MCAK). Thus, two KinI motors, MCAK and Kif2a, play distinct roles in mitosis, and MCAK activity at kinetochores must be balanced by Kif2a activity at poles for spindle bipolarity. These treatments failed to restore bipolarity to cells lacking the activity of the kinesin Eg5. Thus, two independent pathways contribute to spindle bipolarity, with the Eg5-dependent pathway using motor force to drive spindle bipolarity and the Kif2a-dependent pathway relying on microtubule polymer dynamics to generate force for spindle bipolarity.


F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Flavia Serpico ◽  
Domenico Grieco

The goal of mitosis is to form two daughter cells each containing one copy of each mother cell chromosome, replicated in the previous S phase. To achieve this, sister chromatids held together back-to-back at their primary constriction, the centromere, have to interact with microtubules of the mitotic spindle so that each chromatid takes connections with microtubules emanating from opposite spindle poles (we will refer to this condition as bipolar attachment). Only once all replicated chromosomes have reached bipolar attachments can sister chromatids lose cohesion with each other, at the onset of anaphase, and move toward opposite spindle poles, being segregated into what will soon become the daughter cell nucleus. Prevention of errors in chromosome segregation is granted by a safeguard mechanism called Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC). Until all chromosomes are bipolarly oriented at the equator of the mitotic spindle, the SAC prevents loss of sister chromatid cohesion, thus anaphase onset, and maintains the mitotic state by inhibiting inactivation of the major M phase promoting kinase, the cyclin B-cdk1 complex (Cdk1). Here, we review recent mechanistic insights about the circuitry that links Cdk1 to the SAC to ensure correct achievement of the goal of mitosis.


1995 ◽  
Vol 131 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Zhang ◽  
R B Nicklas

Chromosomes are known to enhance spindle microtubule assembly in grasshopper spermatocytes, which suggested to us that chromosomes might play an essential role in the initiation of spindle formation. Chromosomes might, for example, activate other spindle components such as centrosomes and tubulin subunits upon the breakdown of the nuclear envelope. We tested this possibility in living grasshopper spermatocytes. We ruptured the nuclear envelope during prophase, which prematurely exposed the centrosomes to chromosomes and nuclear sap. Spindle assembly was promptly initiated. In contrast, assembly of the spindle was completely inhibited if the nucleus was mechanically removed from a late prophase cell. Other experiments showed that the trigger for spindle assembly is associated with the chromosomes; other constituents of the nucleus cannot initiate spindle assembly in the absence of the chromosomes. The initiation of spindle assembly required centrosomes as well as chromosomes. Extracting centrosomes from late prophase cells completely inhibited spindle assembly after dissolution of the nuclear envelope. We conclude that the normal formation of a bipolar spindle in grasshopper spermatocytes is regulated by chromosomes. A possible explanation is an activator, perhaps a chromosomal protein (Yeo, J.-P., F. Alderuccio, and B.-H. Toh. 1994a. Nature (Lond.). 367: 288-291), that promotes and stabilizes the assembly of astral microtubules and thus promotes assembly of the spindle.


Cell Cycle ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 2648-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Zhang ◽  
Shu-Tao Qi ◽  
Lin Huang ◽  
Xue-Shan Ma ◽  
Ying-Chun Ouyang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (22) ◽  
pp. 2802-2813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaka Shirasugi ◽  
Masamitsu Sato

Bipolar spindles are organized by motor proteins that generate microtubule-­dependent forces to separate the two spindle poles. The fission yeast Cut7 (kinesin-5) is a plus-end-directed motor that generates the outward force to separate the two spindle poles, whereas the minus-end-directed motor Pkl1 (kinesin-14) generates the inward force. Balanced forces by these antagonizing kinesins are essential for bipolar spindle organization in mitosis. Here, we demonstrate that chromosomes generate another outward force that contributes to the bipolar spindle assembly. First, it was noted that the cut7 pkl1 double knockout failed to separate spindle poles in meiosis I, although the mutant is known to succeed it in mitosis. It was assumed that this might be because meiotic kinetochores of bivalent chromosomes joined by cross-overs generate weaker tensions in meiosis I than the strong tensions in mitosis generated by tightly tethered sister kinetochores. In line with this idea, when meiotic mono-oriented kinetochores were artificially converted to a mitotic bioriented layout, the cut7 pkl1 mutant successfully separated spindle poles in meiosis I. Therefore, we propose that spindle pole separation is promoted by outward forces transmitted from kinetochores to spindle poles through microtubules.


1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 674-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Sluder

Sea urchin eggs are used to investigate the involvement of spindle microtubules in the mechanisms that control the timing of cell cycle events. Eggs are treated for 4 min with Colcemid at prophase of the first mitosis. No microtubules are assembled for at least 3 h, and the eggs do not divide. These eggs show repeated cycles of nuclear envelope breakdown (NEB) and nuclear envelope reformation (NER). Mitosis (NEB to NER) is twice as long in Colcemid-treated eggs as in the untreated controls. Interphase (NER to NEB) is the same in both. Thus, each cycle is prolonged entirely in mitosis. The chromosomes of treated eggs condense and eventually split into separate chromatids which do not move apart. This "canaphase" splitting is substantially delayed relative to anaphase onset in the control eggs. Treated eggs are irradiated after NEB with 366-nm light to inactivate the Colcemid. This allows the eggs to assemble normal spindles and divide. Up to 14 min after NEB, delays in the start of microtubule assembly give equal delays in anaphase onset, cleavage, and the events of the following cell cycle. Regardless of the delay, anaphase follows irradiation by the normal prometaphase duration. The quantity of spindle microtubules also influences the timing of mitotic events. Short Colcemid treatments administered in prophase of second division cause eggs to assemble small spindles. One blastomere is irradiated after NEB to provide a control cell with a normal-sized spindle. Cells with diminished spindles always initiate anaphase later than their controls. Telophase events are correspondingly delayed. This work demonstrates that spindle microtubules are involved in the mechanisms that control the time when the cell will initiate anaphase, finish mitosis, and start the next cell cycle.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 2031-2044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara C. M. van de Weerdt ◽  
Marcel A. T. M. van Vugt ◽  
Catherine Lindon ◽  
Jos J. W. Kauw ◽  
Marieke J. Rozendaal ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) plays a role in numerous events in mitosis, but how the multiple functions of Plk1 are separated is poorly understood. We studied regulation of Plk1 through two putative phosphorylation residues, Ser-137 and Thr-210. Using phospho-specific antibodies, we found that Thr-210 phosphorylation precedes Ser-137 phosphorylation in vivo, the latter occurring specifically in late mitosis. We show that expression of two activating mutants of these residues, S137D and T210D, results in distinct mitotic phenotypes. Whereas expression of both phospho-mimicking mutants as well as of the double mutant leads to accelerated mitotic entry, further progression through mitosis is dramatically different: the T210D mutant causes a spindle assembly checkpoint-dependent delay, whereas the expression of the S137D mutant or the double mutant results in untimely activation of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and frequent mitotic catastrophe. Using nonphosphorylatable Plk1-S137A and Plk1-T210A mutants, we show that both sites contribute to proper mitotic progression. Based on these observations, we propose that Plk1 function is altered at different stages of mitosis through consecutive posttranslational events, e.g., at Ser-137 and Thr-210. Furthermore, our data show that uncontrolled Plk1 activation can uncouple APC/C activity from spindle assembly checkpoint control.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 1753-1763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirohisa Masuda ◽  
Takashi Toda

In fission yeast, γ-tubulin ring complex (γTuRC)–specific components Gfh1GCP4, Mod21GCP5, and Alp16GCP6 are nonessential for cell growth. Of these deletion mutants, only alp16Δ shows synthetic lethality with temperature-sensitive mutants of Mzt1MOZART1, a component of the γTuRC required for recruitment of the complex to microtubule-organizing centers. γ-Tubulin small complex levels at mitotic spindle pole bodies (SPBs, the centrosome equivalent in fungi) and microtubule levels for preanaphase spindles are significantly reduced in alp16Δ cells but not in gfh1Δ or mod21Δ cells. Furthermore, alp16Δ cells often form monopolar spindles and frequently lose a minichromosome when the spindle assembly checkpoint is inactivated. Alp16GCP6 promotes Mzt1-dependent γTuRC recruitment to mitotic SPBs and enhances spindle microtubule assembly in a manner dependent on its expression levels. Gfh1GCP4 and Mod21GCP5 are not required for Alp16GCP6-dependent γTuRC recruitment. Mzt1 has an additional role in the activation of the γTuRC for spindle microtubule assembly. The ratio of Mzt1 to γTuRC levels for preanaphase spindles is higher than at other stages of the cell cycle. Mzt1 overproduction enhances spindle microtubule assembly without affecting γTuRC levels at mitotic SPBs. We propose that Alp16GCP6 and Mzt1 act synergistically for efficient bipolar spindle assembly to ensure faithful chromosome segregation.


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