The schizosaccharomyces pombe dim1(+) gene interacts with the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C) component lid1(+) and is required for APC/C function. (1/25)

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe dim1(+) gene is required for entry into mitosis and for chromosome segregation during mitosis. To further understand dim1p function, we undertook a synthetic lethal screen with the temperature-sensitive dim1-35 mutant and isolated lid (for lethal in dim1-35) mutants. Here, we describe the temperature-sensitive lid1-6 mutant. At the restrictive temperature of 36 degrees C, lid1-6 mutant cells arrest with a "cut" phenotype similar to that of cut4 and cut9 mutants. An epitope-tagged version of lid1p is a component of a multiprotein approximately 20S complex; the presence of lid1p in this complex depends upon functional cut9(+). lid1p-myc coimmunoprecipitates with several other proteins, including cut9p and nuc2p, and the presence of cut9p in a 20S complex depends upon the activity of lid1(+). Further, lid1(+) function is required for the multiubiquitination of cut2p, an anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C) target. Thus, lid1p is a component of the S. pombe APC/C. In dim1 mutants, the abundances of lid1p and the APC/C complex decline significantly, and the ubiquitination of an APC/C target is abolished. These data suggest that at least one role of dim1p is to maintain or establish the steady-state level of the APC/C.  (+info)

Cell cycle control of Cdc7p kinase activity through regulation of Dbf4p stability. (2/25)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the heteromeric kinase complex Cdc7p-Dbf4p plays a pivotal role at replication origins in triggering the initiation of DNA replication during the S phase. We have assayed the kinase activity of endogenous levels of Cdc7p kinase by using a likely physiological target, Mcm2p, as a substrate. Using this assay, we have confirmed that Cdc7p kinase activity fluctuates during the cell cycle; it is low in the G1 phase, rises as cells enter the S phase, and remains high until cells complete mitosis. These changes in kinase activity cannot be accounted for by changes in the levels of the catalytic subunit Cdc7p, as these levels are constant during the cell cycle. However, the fluctuations in kinase activity do correlate with levels of the regulatory subunit Dbf4p. The regulation of Dbf4p levels can be attributed in part to increased degradation of the protein in G1 cells. This G1-phase instability is cdc16 dependent, suggesting a role of the anaphase-promoting complex in the turnover of Dbf4p. Overexpression of Dbf4p in the G1 phase can partially overcome this elevated turnover and lead to an increase in Cdc7p kinase activity. Thus, the regulation of Dbf4p levels through the control of Dbf4p degradation has an important role in the regulation of Cdc7p kinase activity during the cell cycle.  (+info)

Cdc20 protein contains a destruction-box but, unlike Clb2, its proteolysisis not acutely dependent on the activity of anaphase-promoting complex. (3/25)

Both chromosome segregation and the final exit from mitosis require a ubiquitin-protein ligase called anaphase-promoting complex (APC) or cyclosome. This multiprotein complex ubiquitinates various substrates, such as the anaphase inhibitor Pds1 and mitotic cyclins, and thus targets them for proteolysis by the 26S proteasome. The ubiquitination by APC is dependent on the presence of a destruction-box sequence in the N-terminus of target proteins. Recent reports have strongly suggested that Cdc20, a WD40 repeat-containing protein required for nuclear division in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is essential for the APC-mediated proteolysis. To understand the function of CDC20, we have studied its regulation in some detail. The expression of the CDC20 gene is cell-cycle regulated such that it is transcribed only during late S phase and mitosis. Although the protein is unstable to some extent through out the cell cycle, its degradation is particularly enhanced in G1. Cdc20 contains a destruction box sequence which, when mutated or deleted, stabilizes it considerably in G1. Surprisingly, we find that while the inactivation of APC subunits Cdc16, Cdc23 or Cdc27 results in stabilization of the mitotic cyclin Clb2 in G1, the proteolytic destruction of Cdc20 remains largely unaffected. This suggests the existence of proteolytic mechanisms in G1 that can degrade destruction-box containing proteins, such as Cdc20, in an APC-independent manner.  (+info)

Phosphorylation by Cdc28 activates the Cdc20-dependent activity of the anaphase-promoting complex. (4/25)

Budding yeast initiates anaphase by activating the Cdc20-dependent anaphase-promoting complex (APC). The mitotic activity of Cdc28 (Cdk1) is required to activate this form of the APC, and mutants that are impaired in mitotic Cdc28 function have difficulty leaving mitosis. This defect can be explained by a defect in APC phosphorylation, which depends on mitotic Cdc28 activity in vivo and can be catalyzed by purified Cdc28 in vitro. Mutating putative Cdc28 phosphorylation sites in three components of the APC, Cdc16, Cdc23, and Cdc27, makes the APC resistant to phosphorylation both in vivo and in vitro. The nonphosphorylatable APC has normal activity in G1, but its mitotic, Cdc20-dependent activity is compromised. These results show that Cdc28 activates the APC in budding yeast to trigger anaphase. Previous reports have shown that the budding yeast Cdc5 homologue, Plk, can also phosphorylate and activate the APC in vitro. We show that, like cdc28 mutants, cdc5 mutants affect APC phosphorylation in vivo. However, although Cdc5 can phosphorylate Cdc16 and Cdc27 in vitro, this in vitro phosphorylation does not occur on in vivo sites of phosphorylation.  (+info)

Identification of EPI64, a TBC/rabGAP domain-containing microvillar protein that binds to the first PDZ domain of EBP50 and E3KARP. (5/25)

The cortical scaffolding proteins EBP50 (ERM-binding phosphoprotein-50) and E3KARP (NHE3 kinase A regulatory protein) contain two PDZ (PSD-95/DlgA/ZO-1-like) domains followed by a COOH-terminal sequence that binds to active ERM family members. Using affinity chromatography, we identified polypeptides from placental microvilli that bind the PDZ domains of EBP50. Among these are 64- and/or 65-kD differentially phosphorylated polypeptides that bind preferentially to the first PDZ domain of EBP50, as well as to E3KARP, and that we call EPI64 (EBP50-PDZ interactor of 64 kD). The gene for human EPI64 lies on chromosome 22 where nine exons specify a protein of 508 residues that contains a Tre/Bub2/Cdc16 (TBC)/rab GTPase-activating protein (GAP) domain. EPI64 terminates in DTYL, which is necessary for binding to the PDZ domains of EBP50, as a mutant ending in DTYLA no longer interacts. EPI64 colocalizes with EBP50 and ezrin in syncytiotrophoblast and cultured cell microvilli, and this localization in cultured cells is abolished by introduction of the DTYLA mutation. In addition to EPI64, immobilized EBP50 PDZ domains retain several polypeptides from placental microvilli, including an isoform of nadrin, a rhoGAP domain-containing protein implicated in regulating vesicular transport. Nadrin binds EBP50 directly, probably through its COOH-terminal STAL sequence. Thus, EBP50 appears to bind membrane proteins as well as factors potentially involved in regulating membrane traffic.  (+info)

A screen for Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutants defective in rereplication identifies new alleles of rad4+, cut9+ and psf2+. (6/25)

Fission yeast mutants defective in DNA replication have widely varying morphological phenotypes. We designed a screen for temperature-sensitive mutants defective in the process of replication regardless of morphology by isolating strains unable to rereplicate their DNA in the absence of cyclin B (Cdc13). Of the 42 rereplication-defective mutants analyzed, we were able to clone complementing plasmids for 10. This screen identified new alleles of the APC subunit cut9(+), the initiation/checkpoint factor rad4(+)/cut5(+), and the first mutant allele of psf2(+), a subunit of the novel GINS replication complex. Other genes identified are likely to play general roles in gene expression and protein localization.  (+info)

Interaction of APC/C-E3 ligase with Swi6/HP1 and Clr4/Suv39 in heterochromatin assembly in fission yeast. (7/25)

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Insights into anaphase promoting complex TPR subdomain assembly from a CDC26-APC6 structure. (8/25)

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