scholarly journals A Novel Role of the Budding Yeast Separin Esp1 in Anaphase Spindle Elongation

2001 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne Jensen ◽  
Marisa Segal ◽  
Duncan J. Clarke ◽  
Steven I. Reed

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the metaphase–anaphase transition is initiated by the anaphase-promoting complex–dependent degradation of Pds1, whereby Esp1 is activated to promote sister chromatid separation. Although this is a fundamental step in the cell cycle, little is known about the regulation of Esp1 and how loss of cohesion is coordinated with movement of the anaphase spindle. Here, we show that Esp1 has a novel role in promoting anaphase spindle elongation. The localization of Esp1 to the spindle apparatus, analyzed by live cell imaging, is regulated in a manner consistent with a function during anaphase B. The protein accumulates in the nucleus in G2 and is mobilized onto the spindle pole bodies and spindle midzone at anaphase onset, where it persists into midanaphase. Association with Pds1 occurs during S phase and is required for efficient nuclear targeting of Esp1. Spindle association is not fully restored in pds1 mutants expressing an Esp1-nuclear localization sequence fusion protein, suggesting that Pds1 is also required to promote Esp1 spindle binding. In agreement, Pds1 interacts with the spindle at the metaphase–anaphase transition and a fraction remains at the spindle pole bodies and the spindle midzone in anaphase cells. Finally, mutational analysis reveals that the conserved COOH-terminal region of Esp1 is important for spindle interaction.

2001 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 1255-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad G. Pearson ◽  
Paul S. Maddox ◽  
E.D. Salmon ◽  
Kerry Bloom

Using green fluorescent protein probes and rapid acquisition of high-resolution fluorescence images, sister centromeres in budding yeast are found to be separated and oscillate between spindle poles before anaphase B spindle elongation. The rates of movement during these oscillations are similar to those of microtubule plus end dynamics. The degree of preanaphase separation varies widely, with infrequent centromere reassociations observed before anaphase. Centromeres are in a metaphase-like conformation, whereas chromosome arms are neither aligned nor separated before anaphase. Upon spindle elongation, centromere to pole movement (anaphase A) was synchronous for all centromeres and occurred coincident with or immediately after spindle pole separation (anaphase B). Chromatin proximal to the centromere is stretched poleward before and during anaphase onset. The stretched chromatin was observed to segregate to the spindle pole bodies at rates greater than centromere to pole movement, indicative of rapid elastic recoil between the chromosome arm and the centromere. These results indicate that the elastic properties of DNA play an as of yet undiscovered role in the poleward movement of chromosome arms.


1995 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Yeh ◽  
R V Skibbens ◽  
J W Cheng ◽  
E D Salmon ◽  
K Bloom

We have used time-lapse digital- and video-enhanced differential interference contrast (DE-DIC, VE-DIC) microscopy to study the role of dynein in spindle and nuclear dynamics in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The real-time analysis reveals six stages in the spindle cycle. Anaphase B onset appears marked by a rapid phase of spindle elongation, simultaneous with nuclear migration into the daughter cell. The onset and kinetics of rapid spindle elongation are identical in wild type and dynein mutants. In the absence of dynein the nucleus does not migrate as close to the neck as in wild-type cells and initial spindle elongation is confined primarily to the mother cell. Rapid oscillations of the elongating spindle between the mother and bud are observed in wild-type cells, followed by a slower growth phase until the spindle reaches its maximal length. This stage is protracted in the dynein mutants and devoid of oscillatory motion. Thus dynein is required for rapid penetration of the nucleus into the bud and anaphase B spindle dynamics. Genetic analysis reveals that in the absence of a functional central spindle (ndcl), dynein is essential for chromosome movement into the bud. Immunofluorescent localization of dynein-beta-galactosidase fusion proteins reveals that dynein is associated with spindle pole bodies and the cell cortex: with spindle pole body localization dependent on intact microtubules. A kinetic analysis of nuclear movement also revealed that cytokinesis is delayed until nuclear translocation is completed, indicative of a surveillance pathway monitoring nuclear transit into the bud.


2007 ◽  
Vol 177 (6) ◽  
pp. 981-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Khmelinskii ◽  
Clare Lawrence ◽  
Johanna Roostalu ◽  
Elmar Schiebel

Spindle elongation in anaphase of mitosis is a cell cycle–regulated process that requires coordination between polymerization, cross-linking, and sliding of microtubules (MTs). Proteins that assemble at the spindle midzone may be important for this process. In this study, we show that Ase1 and the separase–Slk19 complex drive midzone assembly in yeast. Whereas the conserved MT-bundling protein Ase1 establishes a midzone, separase–Slk19 is required to focus and center midzone components. An important step leading to spindle midzone assembly is the dephosphorylation of Ase1 by the protein phosphatase Cdc14 at the beginning of anaphase. Failure to dephosphorylate Ase1 delocalizes midzone proteins and delays the second, slower phase of anaphase B. In contrast, in cells expressing nonphosphorylated Ase1, anaphase spindle extension is faster, and spindles frequently break. Cdc14 also controls the separase–Slk19 complex indirectly via the Aurora B kinase. Thus, Cdc14 regulates spindle midzone assembly and function directly through Ase1 and indirectly via the separase–Slk19 complex.


1975 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 480-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
U P Roos

Myxamebas of Polysphondylium violaceum were grown in liquid medium and processed for electron microscopy. Mitosis is characterized by a persistent nuclear envelope, ring-shaped extranuclear spindle pole bodies (SPBs), a central spindle spatially separated from the chromosomal microtubules, well-differentiated kinetochores, and dispersion of the nucleoli. SPBs originate from the division, during prophase, of an electron-opaque body associated with the interphase nucleus. The nuclear nevelope becomes fenestrated in their vicinity, allowing the build-up of the intranuclear, central spindle and chromosomal microtubules as the SPBs migrate to opposite poles. At metaphase the chromosomes are in amphitelic orientation, each sister chromatid being directly connected to the corresponding SPB by a single microtubule. During ana- and telophase the central spindle elongates, the daughter chromosomes approach the SPBs, and the nucleus constricts in the equatorial region. The cytoplasm cleaves by furrowing in late telophase, which is in other respects characterized by a re-establishment of the interphase condition. Spindle elongation and poleward movement of chromosomes are discussed in relation to hypotheses of the mechanism of mitosis.


2000 ◽  
Vol 346 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio CIRUELA ◽  
Katherine A. HINCHLIFFE ◽  
Nullin DIVECHA ◽  
Robin F. IRVINE

Type II phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases (PIPkins) have recently been found to be primarily phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate 4-kinases, and their physiological role remains unclear. We have previously shown that a Type II PIPkin [isoform(s) unknown], is localized partly in the nucleus [Divecha, Rhee, Letcher and Irvine (1993) Biochem. J. 289, 617-620], and here we show, by transfection of HeLa cells with green-fluorescent-protein-tagged Type II PIPkins, that this is likely to be the Type IIβ isoform. Type IIβ PIPkin has no obvious nuclear localization sequence, and a detailed analysis of the localization of chimaeras and mutants of the α (cytosolic) and β PIPkins shows that the nuclear localization requires the presence of a 17-amino-acid length of α-helix (α-helix 7) that is specific to the β isoform, and that this helix must be present in its entirety, with a precise orientation. This resembles the nuclear targeting of the HIV protein Vpr, and Type IIβ PIPkin is apparently therefore the first example of a eukaryotic protein that uses the same mechanism.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 3591-3605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihe Li ◽  
C. Elizabeth Oakley ◽  
Guifang Chen ◽  
Xiaoyan Han ◽  
Berl R. Oakley ◽  
...  

In Aspergillus nidulans, cytoplasmic dynein and NUDF/LIS1 are found at the spindle poles during mitosis, but they seem to be targeted to this location via different mechanisms. The spindle pole localization of cytoplasmic dynein requires the function of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC), whereas that of NUDF does not. Moreover, although NUDF's localization to the spindle poles does not require a fully functional dynein motor, the function of NUDF is important for cytoplasmic dynein's targeting to the spindle poles. Interestingly, a γ-tubulin mutation, mipAR63, nearly eliminates the localization of cytoplasmic dynein to the spindle poles, but it has no apparent effect on NUDF's spindle pole localization. Live cell analysis of the mipAR63 mutant revealed a defect in chromosome separation accompanied by unscheduled spindle elongation before the completion of anaphase A, suggesting that γ-tubulin may recruit regulatory proteins to the spindle poles for mitotic progression. In A. nidulans, dynein is not apparently required for mitotic progression. In the presence of a low amount of benomyl, a microtubule-depolymerizing agent, however, a dynein mutant diploid strain exhibits a more pronounced chromosome loss phenotype than the control, indicating that cytoplasmic dynein plays a role in chromosome segregation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 187 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Geymonat ◽  
Adonis Spanos ◽  
Geoffroy de Bettignies ◽  
Steven G. Sedgwick

Lte1 is a mitotic regulator long envisaged as a guanosine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for Tem1, the small guanosine triphosphatase governing activity of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitotic exit network. We demonstrate that this model requires reevaluation. No GEF activity was detectable in vitro, and mutational analysis of Lte1’s putative GEF domain indicated that Lte1 activity relies on interaction with Ras for localization at the bud cortex rather than providing nucleotide exchange. Instead, we found that Lte1 can determine the subcellular localization of Bfa1 at spindle pole bodies (SPBs). Under conditions in which Lte1 is essential, Lte1 promoted the loss of Bfa1 from the maternal SPB. Moreover, in cells with a misaligned spindle, mislocalization of Lte1 in the mother cell promoted loss of Bfa1 from one SPB and allowed bypass of the spindle position checkpoint. We observed that lte1 mutants display aberrant localization of the polarity cap, which is the organizer of the actin cytoskeleton. We propose that Lte1’s role in cell polarization underlies its contribution to mitotic regulation.


1991 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.R. Aist ◽  
C.J. Bayles ◽  
W. Tao ◽  
M.W. Berns

The existence, structural basis and function of astral forces that are active during anaphase B in the fungus, Nectria haematococca, were revealed by experiments performed on living cells. When one of the two asters of a mitotic apparatus was damaged, the entire mitotic apparatus migrated rapidly in the direction of the opposing astral forces, showing that the force that accelerated spindle pole body separation in earlier experiments is located in the asters. When a strong solution of the antimicrotubule drug, MBC, was applied at anaphase A, tubulin immunocytochemistry showed that both astral and spindle microtubules were destroyed completely in less than a minute. As a result, separation of the spindle pole bodies during anaphase B almost stopped. By contrast, disrupting only the spindle microtubules with a laser microbeam increased the rate of spindle pole body separation more than fourfold. Taken together, these two experiments show that the astral forces are microtubule-dependent. When only one of the two or three bundles of spindle microtubules was broken at very early anaphase B, most such diminished spindles elongated at a normal rate, whereas others elongated at an increased rate. This result suggests that only a critical mass or number of spindle microtubules needs be present for the rate of spindle elongation to be fully governed, and that astral forces can accelerate the elongation of a weakened or diminished spindle.


1998 ◽  
Vol 111 (17) ◽  
pp. 2607-2614 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Inoue ◽  
O.C. Yoder ◽  
B.G. Turgeon ◽  
J.R. Aist

An astral pulling force helps to elongate the mitotic spindle in the filamentous ascomycete, Nectria haematococca. Evidence is mounting that dynein is required for the formation of mitotic spindles and asters. Obviously, this would be an important mitotic function of dynein, since it would be a prerequisite for astral force to be applied to a spindle pole. Missing from the evidence for such a role of dynein in aster formation, however, has been a dynein mutant lacking mitotic asters. To determine whether or not cytoplasmic dynein is involved in mitotic aster formation in N. haematococca, a dynein-deficient mutant was made. Immunocytochemistry visualized few or no mitotic astral microtubules in the mutant cells, and studies of living cells confirmed the veracity of this result by revealing the absence of mitotic aster functions in vivo: intra-astral motility of membranous organelles was not apparent; the rate and extent of spindle elongation during anaphase B were reduced; and spindle pole body separation almost stopped when the anaphase B spindle in the mutant was cut by a laser microbeam, demonstrating unequivocally that no astral pulling force was present. These unique results not only provide a demonstration that cytoplasmic dynein is required for the formation of mitotic asters in N. haematococca; they also represent the first report of mitotic phenotypes in a dynein mutant of any filamentous fungus and the first cytoplasmic dynein mutant of any organism whose mitotic phenotypes demonstrate the requirement of cytoplasmic dynein for aster formation in vivo.


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