Report

“Reductional anaphase” in replication-defective cells is caused by ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Cdc34-mediated deregulation of the spindle

Volume 11, Issue 15   August 1, 2012
Pages 2896 - 2910
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cc.21303
Keywords: Cdc34, Cdc6, cell cycle, cell division, checkpoint, mitosis, premature anaphase, replication failure, spindle
Authors: Jenn Hui Khong, Tao Zhang, Jayantha Gunaratne, Walter Blackstock and Uttam Surana

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Abstract:
Equal partitioning of the duplicated chromosomes into two daughter cells during cell division is a coordinated process and is initiated only after completion of DNA synthesis. However, this strict order of execution breaks down in CDC6-deficient cells. Cdc6, an evolutionarily conserved protein, is required for the assembly of pre-replicative complexes (pre-RCs) and is essential for the initiation of DNA replication. Yeast cells lacking Cdc6 function, though unable to initiate DNA replication, proceed to undergo “reductional anaphase” by partitioning the unreplicated chromosomes and lose viability rapidly. This extreme form of genomic instability in cdc6 cells is thought to be due to inactivation of a pre-RC based, Cdc6-dependent checkpoint mechanism that, during normal cell cycle, inhibits premature onset of mitosis until pre-RC is assembled. Here, we show that chromosome segregation in cdc6 mutant is caused not by precocious initiation of mitosis in the absence of a checkpoint, but by the deregulation of spindle dynamics induced via a regulatory network involving the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Cdc34, microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) and the anaphase-promoting complex (APC) activator Cdh1. This regulatory circuit governs spindle behavior in the early part of the division cycle and precipitates catastrophic chromosome segregation in the absence of DNA replication.

Received: May 21, 2012; Accepted: June 28, 2012

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