The mother-bud neck as a signaling platform for the coordination between spindle position and cytokinesis in budding yeast

2011 ◽  
Vol 392 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 805-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Merlini ◽  
Simonetta Piatti

Abstract During asymmetric cell division, spindle positioning is critical for ensuring the unequal inheritance of polarity factors. In budding yeast, the mother-bud neck determines the cleavage plane and a correct nuclear division between mother and daughter cell requires orientation of the mitotic spindle along the mother-bud axis. A surveillance device called the spindle position/orientation checkpoint (SPOC) oversees this process and delays mitotic exit and cytokinesis until the spindle is properly oriented along the division axis, thus ensuring genome stability. Cytoskeletal proteins called septins form a ring at the bud neck that is essential for cytokinesis. Furthermore, septins and septin-associated proteins are implicated in spindle positioning and SPOC. In this review, we discuss the emerging connections between septins and the SPOC and the role of the mother-bud neck as a signaling platform to couple proper chromosome segregation to cytokinesis.

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Fraschini ◽  
Marianna Venturetti ◽  
Elena Chiroli ◽  
Simonetta Piatti

During asymmetric cell division, spindle positioning is critical to ensure the unequal segregation of polarity factors and generate daughter cells with different sizes or fates. In budding yeast the boundary between mother and daughter cell resides at the bud neck, where cytokinesis takes place at the end of the cell cycle. Since budding and bud neck formation occur much earlier than bipolar spindle formation, spindle positioning is a finely regulated process. A surveillance device called the SPOC (spindle position checkpoint) oversees this process and delays mitotic exit and cytokinesis until the spindle is properly oriented along the division axis, thus ensuring genome stability.


PLoS Genetics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. e1002670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Merlini ◽  
Roberta Fraschini ◽  
Barbara Boettcher ◽  
Yves Barral ◽  
Giovanna Lucchini ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 190 (6) ◽  
pp. 975-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayse Koca Caydasi ◽  
Bahtiyar Kurtulmus ◽  
Maria I.L. Orrico ◽  
Astrid Hofmann ◽  
Bashar Ibrahim ◽  
...  

Budding yeast asymmetric cell division relies upon the precise coordination of spindle orientation and cell cycle progression. The spindle position checkpoint (SPOC) is a surveillance mechanism that prevents cells with misoriented spindles from exiting mitosis. The cortical kinase Kin4 acts near the top of this network. How Kin4 kinase activity is regulated and maintained in respect to spindle positional cues remains to be established. Here, we show that the bud neck–associated kinase Elm1 participates in Kin4 activation and SPOC signaling by phosphorylating a conserved residue within the activation loop of Kin4. Blocking Elm1 function abolishes Kin4 kinase activity in vivo and eliminates the SPOC response to spindle misalignment. These findings establish a novel function for Elm1 in the coordination of spindle positioning with cell cycle progression via its control of Kin4.


2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 3796-3810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Fraschini ◽  
Denis Bilotta ◽  
Giovanna Lucchini ◽  
Simonetta Piatti

Proper transmission of genetic information requires correct assembly and positioning of the mitotic spindle, responsible for driving each set of sister chromatids to the two daughter cells, followed by cytokinesis. In case of altered spindle orientation, the spindle position checkpoint inhibits Tem1-dependent activation of the mitotic exit network (MEN), thus delaying mitotic exit and cytokinesis until errors are corrected. We report a functional analysis of two previously uncharacterized budding yeast proteins, Dma1 and Dma2, 58% identical to each other and homologous to human Chfr and Schizosaccharomyces pombe Dma1, both of which have been previously implicated in mitotic checkpoints. We show that Dma1 and Dma2 are involved in proper spindle positioning, likely regulating septin ring deposition at the bud neck. DMA2 overexpression causes defects in septin ring disassembly at the end of mitosis and in cytokinesis. The latter defects can be rescued by either eliminating the spindle position checkpoint protein Bub2 or overproducing its target, Tem1, both leading to MEN hyperactivation. In addition, dma1Δ dma2Δ cells fail to activate the spindle position checkpoint in response to the lack of dynein, whereas ectopic expression of DMA2 prevents unscheduled mitotic exit of spindle checkpoint mutants treated with microtubule-depolymerizing drugs. Although their primary functions remain to be defined, our data suggest that Dma1 and Dma2 might be required to ensure timely MEN activation in telophase.


1997 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
pp. 1041-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank R. Cottingham ◽  
M. Andrew Hoyt

Proper positioning of the mitotic spindle is often essential for cell division and differentiation processes. The asymmetric cell division characteristic of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, requires that the spindle be positioned at the mother–bud neck and oriented along the mother–bud axis. The single dynein motor encoded by the S. cerevisiae genome performs an important but nonessential spindle-positioning role. We demonstrate that kinesin-related Kip3p makes a major contribution to spindle positioning in the absence of dynein. The elimination of Kip3p function in dyn1Δ cells severely compromised spindle movement to the mother–bud neck. In dyn1Δ cells that had completed positioning, elimination of Kip3p function caused spindles to mislocalize to distal positions in mother cell bodies. We also demonstrate that the spindle-positioning defects exhibited by dyn1 kip3 cells are caused, to a large extent, by the actions of kinesin- related Kip2p. Microtubules in kip2Δ cells were shorter and more sensitive to benomyl than wild-type, in contrast to the longer and benomyl-resistant microtubules found in dyn1Δ and kip3Δ cells. Most significantly, the deletion of KIP2 greatly suppressed the spindle localization defect and slow growth exhibited by dyn1 kip3 cells. Likewise, induced expression of KIP2 caused spindles to mislocalize in cells deficient for dynein and Kip3p. Our findings indicate that Kip2p participates in normal spindle positioning but antagonizes a positioning mechanism acting in dyn1 kip3 cells. The observation that deletion of KIP2 could also suppress the inviability of dyn1Δ kar3Δ cells suggests that kinesin-related Kar3p also contributes to spindle positioning.


Author(s):  
Elena Kozgunova ◽  
Mari W. Yoshida ◽  
Gohta Goshima

AbstractAsymmetric cell division (ACD) underlies the development of multicellular organisms. The division site in plant cells is predetermined prior to mitosis and the localization of the mitotic spindle is considered static, unlike in animal ACD, where the cell division site is defined by active spindle-positioning mechanisms. Here, we isolated a novel mutant of the microtubule-associated protein TPX2 in the moss Physcomitrella patens and observed abnormal spindle motility, which led to inverted asymmetric division during organ development. This phenotype was rescued by restoring endogenous TPX2 function and, unexpectedly, by depolymerizing actin filaments. Thus, we identify an active spindle-positioning mechanism involving microtubules and actin filaments that sets the division site in plants, which is reminiscent of the acentrosomal ACD in animals, and suggests the existence of a common ancestral mechanism.


2006 ◽  
Vol 172 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Fraschini ◽  
Claudio D'Ambrosio ◽  
Marianna Venturetti ◽  
Giovanna Lucchini ◽  
Simonetta Piatti

Budding yeast spindle position checkpoint is engaged by misoriented spindles and prevents mitotic exit by inhibiting the G protein Tem1 through the GTPase-activating protein (GAP) Bub2/Bfa1. Bub2 and Bfa1 are found on both duplicated spindle pole bodies until anaphase onset, when they disappear from the mother-bound spindle pole under unperturbed conditions. In contrast, when spindles are misoriented they remain symmetrically localized at both SPBs. Thus, symmetric localization of Bub2/Bfa1 might lead to inhibition of Tem1, which is also present at SPBs. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that a Bub2 version symmetrically localized on both SPBs throughout the cell cycle prevents mitotic exit in mutant backgrounds that partially impair it. This effect is Bfa1 dependent and can be suppressed by high Tem1 levels. Bub2 removal from the mother-bound SPB requires its GAP activity, which in contrast appears to be dispensable for Tem1 inhibition. Moreover, it correlates with the passage of one spindle pole through the bud neck because it needs septin ring formation and bud neck kinases.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (19) ◽  
pp. 4469-4481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Fu Bryan Tsou ◽  
Adam Hayashi ◽  
Leah R. DeBella ◽  
Garth McGrath ◽  
Lesilee S. Rose

Asymmetric cell division depends on coordinating the position of the mitotic spindle with the axis of cellular polarity. We provide evidence that LET-99 is a link between polarity cues and the downstream machinery that determines spindle positioning in C. elegans embryos. In let-99 one-cell embryos, the nuclear-centrosome complex exhibits a hyperactive oscillation that is dynein dependent, instead of the normal anteriorly directed migration and rotation of the nuclear-centrosome complex. Furthermore, at anaphase in let-99 embryos the spindle poles do not show the characteristic asymmetric movements typical of wild type animals. LET-99 is a DEP domain protein that is asymmetrically enriched in a band that encircles P lineage cells. The LET-99 localization pattern is dependent on PAR polarity cues and correlates with nuclear rotation and anaphase spindle pole movements in wild-type embryos, as well as with changes in these movements in par mutant embryos. In particular, LET-99 is uniformly localized in one-cell par-3 embryos at the time of nuclear rotation. Rotation fails in spherical par-3 embryos in which the eggshell has been removed, but rotation occurs normally in spherical wild-type embryos. The latter results indicate that nuclear rotation in intact par-3 embryos is dictated by the geometry of the oblong egg and are consistent with the model that the LET-99 band is important for rotation in wild-type embryos. Together, the data indicate that LET-99 acts downstream of PAR-3 and PAR-2 to determine spindle positioning, potentially through the asymmetric regulation of forces on the spindle.


2006 ◽  
Vol 172 (7) ◽  
pp. 1009-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jawdat Al-Bassam ◽  
Mark van Breugel ◽  
Stephen C. Harrison ◽  
Anthony Hyman

Stu2p from budding yeast belongs to the conserved Dis1/XMAP215 family of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). The common feature of proteins in this family is the presence of HEAT repeat–containing TOG domains near the NH2 terminus. We have investigated the functions of the two TOG domains of Stu2p in vivo and in vitro. Our data suggest that Stu2p regulates microtubule dynamics through two separate activities. First, Stu2p binds to a single free tubulin heterodimer through its first TOG domain. A large conformational transition in homodimeric Stu2p from an open structure to a closed one accompanies the capture of a single free tubulin heterodimer. Second, Stu2p has the capacity to associate directly with microtubule ends, at least in part, through its second TOG domain. These two properties lead to the stabilization of microtubules in vivo, perhaps by the loading of tubulin dimers at microtubule ends. We suggest that this mechanism of microtubule regulation is a conserved feature of the Dis1/XMAP215 family of MAPs.


1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Harder ◽  
R Kellner ◽  
R G Parton ◽  
J Gruenberg

Annexin II is an abundant protein which is present in the cytosol and on the cytoplasmic face of plasma membrane and early endosomes. It is generally believed that this association occurs via Ca(2+)-dependent binding to lipids, a mechanism typical for the annexin protein family. Although previous studies have shown that annexin II is involved in early endosome dynamics and organization, the precise biological role of the protein is unknown. In this study, we found that approximately 50% of the total cellular annexin was associated with membranes in a Ca(2+)-independent manner. This binding was extremely tight, since it resisted high salt and, to some extent, high pH treatments. We found, however, that membrane-associated annexin II could be quantitatively released by low concentrations of the cholesterol-sequestering agents filipin and digitonin. Both treatments released an identical and limited set of proteins but had no effects on other membrane-associated proteins. Among the released proteins, we identified, in addition to annexin II itself, the cortical cytoskeletal proteins alpha-actinin, ezrin and moesin, and membrane-associated actin. Our biochemical and immunological observations indicate that these proteins are part of a complex containing annexin II and that stability of the complex is sensitive to cholesterol sequestering agents. Since annexin II is tightly membrane-associated in a cholesterol-dependent manner, and since it seems to interact physically with elements of the cortical actin cytoskeleton, we propose that the protein serves as interface between membranes containing high amounts of cholesterol and the actin cytoskeleton.


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