The pelota locus encodes a protein required for meiotic cell division: an analysis of G2/M arrest in Drosophila spermatogenesis

Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (10) ◽  
pp. 3477-3486 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.G. Eberhart ◽  
S.A. Wasserman

During Drosophila spermatogenesis, germ cells undergo four rounds of mitosis, an extended premeiotic G2 phase and two meiotic divisions. In males homozygous for mutations in pelota, the germline mitotic divisions are normal, but the cell cycle arrests prior to the first meiotic division; pelota males are therefore sterile. Chromosomes begin to condense in these mutants, but other meiotic processes, including nuclear envelope breakdown and spindle formation, do not occur. The arrest phenotype closely resembles that of mutations in the Drosophila cdc25 homolog twine. Although meiosis is blocked in pelota and twine homozygotes, spermatid differentiation continues. pelota is also required for patterning in the eye and mitotic divisions in the ovary. We have cloned the pelota locus and show it encodes a 44 × 10(3) M(r) protein with yeast, plant, worm and human homologs.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Hannaford ◽  
Anne Ramat ◽  
Nicolas Loyer ◽  
Jens Januschke

SUMMARYCell fate generation can rely on the unequal distribution of molecules during progenitor cell division in the nervous system of vertebrates and invertebrates. Here we address asymmetric fate determinant localization in the developing Drosophila nervous system, focussing on the control of asymmetric Miranda distribution in larval neuroblasts. We used live imaging of neuroblast polarity reporters at endogenous levels of expression to address Miranda localization during the cell cycle. We reveal that the regulation and dynamics of cortical association of Miranda in interphase and mitosis are different. In interphase Miranda binds directly to the plasma membrane. At the onset of mitosis, Miranda is phosphorylated by aPKC and displaced from the PM. After nuclear envelope breakdown asymmetric localization of Miranda requires actomyosin activity. Therefore, Miranda phosphorylation by aPKC and differential binding to the actomyosin network are required at distinct phases of the cell cycle to polarize fate determinant localization.


Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Weinert ◽  
L H Hartwell

Abstract In eucaryotes a cell cycle control called a checkpoint ensures that mitosis occurs only after chromosomes are completely replicated and any damage is repaired. The function of this checkpoint in budding yeast requires the RAD9 gene. Here we examine the role of the RAD9 gene in the arrest of the 12 cell division cycle (cdc) mutants, temperature-sensitive lethal mutants that arrest in specific phases of the cell cycle at a restrictive temperature. We found that in four cdc mutants the cdc rad9 cells failed to arrest after a shift to the restrictive temperature, rather they continued cell division and died rapidly, whereas the cdc RAD cells arrested and remained viable. The cell cycle and genetic phenotypes of the 12 cdc RAD mutants indicate the function of the RAD9 checkpoint is phase-specific and signal-specific. First, the four cdc RAD mutants that required RAD9 each arrested in the late S/G2 phase after a shift to the restrictive temperature when DNA replication was complete or nearly complete, and second, each leaves DNA lesions when the CDC gene product is limiting for cell division. Three of the four CDC genes are known to encode DNA replication enzymes. We found that the RAD17 gene is also essential for the function of the RAD9 checkpoint because it is required for phase-specific arrest of the same four cdc mutants. We also show that both X- or UV-irradiated cells require the RAD9 and RAD17 genes for delay in the G2 phase. Together, these results indicate that the RAD9 checkpoint is apparently activated only by DNA lesions and arrests cell division only in the late S/G2 phase.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Bestul ◽  
Zulin Yu ◽  
Jay R. Unruh ◽  
Sue L. Jaspersen

AbstractProper mitotic progression in Schizosaccharomyces pombe requires partial nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) and insertion of the spindle pole body (SPB – yeast centrosome) to build the mitotic spindle. Linkage of the centromere to the SPB is vital to this process, but why that linkage is important is not well understood. Utilizing high-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SIM), we show that the conserved SUNprotein Sad1 and other SPB proteins redistribute during mitosis to form a ring complex around SPBs, which is a precursor for NEBD and spindle formation. Although the Polo kinase Plo1 is not necessary for Sad1 redistribution, it localizes to the SPB region connected to the centromere, and its activity is vital for SPB ring protein redistribution and for complete NEBD to allow for SPB insertion. Our results lead to a model in which centromere linkage to the SPB drives redistribution of Sad1 and Plo1 activation that in turn facilitate NEBD and spindle formation through building of an SPB ring structure.SummaryNuclear envelope breakdown is necessary for fission yeast cells to go through mitosis. Bestul et al. show that the SUN protein, Sad1, is vital in carrying out this breakdown and is regulated by the centromere and Polo kinase.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florentin Huguet ◽  
Shane Flynn ◽  
Paola Vagnarelli

The role of kinases in the regulation of cell cycle transitions is very well established, however, over the past decade, studies have identified the ever-growing importance of phosphatases in these processes. It is well-known that an intact or otherwise non-deformed nuclear envelope (NE) is essential for maintaining healthy cells and any deviation from this can result in pathological conditions. This review aims at assessing the current understanding of how phosphatases contribute to the remodelling of the nuclear envelope during its disassembling and reformation after cell division and how errors in this process may lead to the development of diseases.


2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra J. Wolgemuth ◽  
Karen M. Lele ◽  
Vaidehi Jobanputra ◽  
Glicella Salazar

1985 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 518-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Lohka ◽  
J L Maller

Incubation of demembranated sperm chromatin in cytoplasmic extracts of unfertilized Xenopus laevis eggs resulted in nuclear envelope assembly, chromosome decondensation, and sperm pronuclear formation. In contrast, egg extracts made with EGTA-containing buffers induced the sperm chromatin to form chromosomes or irregularly shaped clumps of chromatin that were incorporated into bipolar or multipolar spindles. The 150,000 g supernatants of the EGTA extracts could not alone support these changes in incubated nuclei. However, these supernatants induced not only chromosome condensation and spindle formation, but also nuclear envelope breakdown when added to sperm pronuclei or isolated Xenopus liver or brain nuclei that were incubated in extracts made without EGTA. Similar changes were induced by partially purified preparations of maturation-promoting factor. The addition of calcium chloride to extracts containing condensed chromosomes and spindles caused dissolution of the spindles, decondensation of the chromosomes, and re-formation of interphase nuclei. These results indicate that nuclear envelope breakdown, chromosome condensation, and spindle assembly, as well as the regulation of these processes by Ca2+-sensitive cytoplasmic components, can be studied in vitro using extracts of amphibian eggs.


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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 2848-2861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dai Tsuchiya ◽  
Claire Gonzalez ◽  
Soni Lacefield

In many eukaryotes, disruption of the spindle checkpoint protein Mad2 results in an increase in meiosis I nondisjunction, suggesting that Mad2 has a conserved role in ensuring faithful chromosome segregation in meiosis. To characterize the meiotic function of Mad2, we analyzed individual budding yeast cells undergoing meiosis. We find that Mad2 sets the duration of meiosis I by regulating the activity of APCCdc20. In the absence of Mad2, most cells undergo both meiotic divisions, but securin, a substrate of the APC/C, is degraded prematurely, and prometaphase I/metaphase I is accelerated. Some mad2Δ cells have a misregulation of meiotic cell cycle events and undergo a single aberrant division in which sister chromatids separate. In these cells, both APCCdc20 and APCAma1 are prematurely active, and meiosis I and meiosis II events occur in a single meiotic division. We show that Mad2 indirectly regulates APCAma1 activity by decreasing APCCdc20 activity. We propose that Mad2 is an important meiotic cell cycle regulator that ensures the timely degradation of APC/C substrates and the proper orchestration of the meiotic divisions.


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