Anna Feoktistova

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe actin-related protein, Arp3, is a component of the cortical actin cytoskeleton and interacts with profilin.

The gene encoding the actin‐related protein Arp3 was first identified in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and is a member of an evolutionarily conserved family of actin‐related proteins. Here we present several key findings that define an essential role for Arp3p in the functioning of the cortical actin cytoskeleton. First, mutants in arp3 interact specifically with profilin and actin mutants. Second, Arp3 localizes to cortical actin patches which are required for polarized cell growth. Third, the arp3 gene is required for the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton during the cell cycle. Finally, the Arp3 protein is present in a large protein complex. We believe that this complex may mediate the cortical functions of profilin at actin patches in S. pombe.

Proteomics Analysis Identifies New Components of the Fission and Budding Yeast Anaphase-Promoting Complexes

The anaphase-promoting complex (APC) is a conserved multisubunit ubiquitin ligase required for the degradation of key cell cycle regulators. Components of the APC have been identified through genetic screens in both Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as through biochemical purification coupled with mass spectrometric protein identification. With these approaches, 11 subunits of the core S. cerevisiae APC have been identified. Here, we have applied a tandem affinity purification approach coupled with direct analysis of the purified complexes by mass spectrometry (DALPC) to reveal additional subunits of both the S. pombe and S. cerevisiae APCs. Our data increase the total number of identified APC subunits to 13 in both yeasts and indicate that previous approaches were biased against the identification of small subunits. These results underscore the power of direct analysis of protein complexes by mass spectrometry and set the foundation for further functional and structural studies of the APC.

The spindle checkpoint functions of Mad3 and Mad2 depend on a Mad3 KEN box-mediated interaction with Cdc20-anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C).

Mitotic progression is driven by proteolytic destruction of securin and cyclins. These proteins are labeled for destruction by an ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase (E3) known as the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C). The APC/C requires activators (Cdc20 or Cdh1) to efficiently recognize its substrates, which are specified by destruction (D box) and/or KEN box signals. The spindle assembly checkpoint responds to unattached kinetochores and to kinetochores lacking tension, both of which reflect incomplete biorientation of chromosomes, by delaying the onset of anaphase. It does this by inhibiting Cdc20-APC/C. Certain checkpoint proteins interact directly with Cdc20, but it remains unclear how the checkpoint acts to efficiently inhibit Cdc20-APC/C activity. In the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we find that the Mad3 and Mad2 spindle checkpoint proteins interact stably with the APC/C in mitosis. Mad3 contains two KEN boxes, conserved from yeast Mad3 to human BubR1, and mutation of either of these abrogates the spindle checkpoint. Strikingly, mutation of the N-terminal KEN box abolishes incorporation of Mad3 into the mitotic checkpoint complex (Mad3-Mad2-Slp1 in S. pombe, where Slp1 is the Cdc20 homolog that we will refer to as Cdc20 hereafter) and stable association of both Mad3 and Mad2 with the APC/C. Our findings demonstrate that this Mad3 KEN box is a critical mediator of Cdc20-APC/C inhibition, without which neither Mad3 nor Mad2 can associate with the APC/C or inhibit anaphase onset.

FISSION YEAST SOP2P : A NOVEL AND EVOLUTIONARILY CONSERVED PROTEIN THAT INTERACTS WITH ARP3P AND MODULATES PROFILIN FUNCTION

Profilins bind to monomeric actin and also interact with ligands such as phosphoinositide 4,5‐bisphosphate, the proline‐rich protein VASP and a complex of four to six polypeptides identified in Acanthamoeba that includes two actin‐related proteins. Here, we report the identification and characterization of an essential gene from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, sop2+, a mutation in which rescues the temperature‐sensitive lethality of a profilin mutation, cdc3–124. The sop2–1 mutant is defective for cell elongation and septation, suggesting that it is involved in multiple cortical actin‐requiring processes. Consistent with a role in actin cytoskeletal function, negative interactions have been identified between sop2–1 and act1–48, a mutant allele of actin. Sop2p is a novel 377 amino acid polypeptide with similarity to proteins of the beta‐transducin repeat family. Sop2p‐related proteins have been identified by sequencing projects in diverse species, and we have isolated a human cDNA highly related to sop2+, SOP2 Hs, which functionally complements the sop2–1 mutation. Sop2p proteins from all species contain peptide sequences identical or highly similar to two peptide sequences from an Acanthamoeba beta‐transducin repeat protein present in the profilin binding complex. Biochemical analyses demonstrate that Sop2p is present in a complex which also contains the actin‐related protein, Arp3p. Immunofluorescence studies reveal the presence of Sop2p in (i) punctate structures distributed throughout the cell, (ii) cables that extend the length of the cell, and (iii) a medial band in a small percentage of septating cells. Collectively these data demonstrate the interaction of Sop2p with Arp3p, profilin and actin.

Myb-Related Schizosaccharomyces pombe cdc5p Is Structurally and Functionally Conserved in Eukaryotes

ABSTRACT Schizosaccharomyces pombe cdc5p is a Myb-related protein that is essential for G2/M progression. To explore the structural and functional conservation of Cdc5 throughout evolution, we isolated Cdc5-related genes and cDNAs fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and Homo sapiens. Supporting the notion that these Cdc5 gene family members are functionally homologous to S. pombe cdc5+, human and fly Cdc5 cDNAs are capable of complementing the temperature-sensitive lethality of the S. pombe cdc5-120 mutant. Furthermore, S. cerevisiae CEF1(S. cerevisiae homolog of cdc5 +), like S. pombe cdc5 +, is essential during G2/M. The location of the cdc5-120 mutation, as well as mutational analyses of Cef1p, indicate that the Myb repeats of cdc5p and Cef1p are important for their function in vivo. However, we found that unlike in c-Myb, single residue substitutions of glycines for hydrophobic residues within the Myb repeats of Cef1p, which are essential for maintaining structure of the Myb domain, did not impair Cef1p function in vivo. Rather, multiple W-to-G substitutions were required to inactivate Cef1p, and many of the substitution mutants were found to confer temperature sensitivity. Although it is possible that Cef1p acts as a transcriptional activator, we have demonstrated that Cef1p is not involved in transcriptional activation of a class of G2/M-regulated genes typified by SWI5. Collectively, these results suggest that Cdc5 family members participate in a novel pathway to regulate G2/M progression.

Sid4p-Cdc11p Assembles the Septation Initiation Network and Its Regulators at the S. pombe SPB

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe septation initiation network (SIN) triggers actomyosin ring constriction, septation, and cell division. It is organized at the spindle pole body (SPB) by the scaffold proteins Sid4p and Cdc11p. Here, we dissect the contributions of Sid4p and Cdc11p in anchoring SIN components and SIN regulators to the SPB. We find that Sid4p interacts with the SIN activator, Plo1p, in addition to Cdc11p and Dma1p. While the C terminus of Cdc11p is involved in binding Sid4p, its N-terminal half is involved in a wide variety of direct protein-protein interactions, including those with Spg1p, Sid2p, Cdc16p, and Cdk1p-Cdc13p. Given that the localizations of the remaining SIN components depend on Spg1p or Cdc16p, these data allow us to build a comprehensive model of SIN component organization at the SPB. FRAP experiments indicate that Sid4p and Cdc11p are stable SPB components, whereas signaling components of the SIN are dynamically associated with these structures. Our results suggest that the Sid4p-Cdc11p complex organizes a signaling hub on the SPB and that this hub coordinates cell and nuclear division.

The SIN Kinase Sid2 Regulates Cytoplasmic Retention of the S. pombe Cdc14-like Phosphatase Clp1

Cdc14-family phosphatases play a conserved role in promoting mitotic exit and cytokinesis by dephosphorylating substrates of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk). Cdc14-family phosphatases have been best studied in yeast (for review, see [1, 2]), where budding yeast Cdc14 and its fission yeast homolog Clp1 are regulated partly by their localization; both proteins are thought to be sequestered in the nucleolus in interphase. Cdc14 and Clp1 are released from the nucleolus in mitosis, and in late mitosis conserved signaling pathways termed the mitotic exit network (MEN) and the septation initiation network (SIN) keeps Cdc14 and Clp1, respectively, out of the nucleolus through an unknown mechanism [3-6]. Here we show that the most downstream SIN component, the Ndr-family kinase Sid2, maintains Clp1 in the cytoplasm in late mitosis by phosphorylating Clp1 directly and thereby creating binding sites for the 14-3-3 protein Rad24. Mutation of the Sid2 phosphorylation sites on Clp1 disrupts the Clp1-Rad24 interaction and causes Clp1 to return prematurely to the nucleolus during cytokinesis. Loss of Clp1 from the cytoplasm in telophase renders cells sensitive to perturbation of the actomyosin ring but does not affect other Clp1 functions. Because all components of this pathway are conserved, this might be a broadly conserved mechanism for regulation of Cdc14-family phosphatases.

Study of Cyclin Proteolysis in Anaphase-Promoting Complex (APC) Mutant Cells Reveals the Requirement for APC Function in the Final Steps of the Fission Yeast Septation Initiation Network

ABSTRACT Cytokinesis in eukaryotic cells requires the inactivation of mitotic cyclin-dependent kinase complexes. An apparent exception to this relationship is found in Schizosaccharomyces pombemutants with mutations of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC). These conditional lethal mutants arrest with unsegregated chromosomes because they cannot degrade the securin, Cut2p. Although failing at nuclear division, these mutants septate and divide. Since septation requires Cdc2p inactivation in wild-type S. pombe, it has been suggested that Cdc2p inactivation occurs in these mutants by a mechanism independent of cyclin degradation. In contrast to this prediction, we show that Cdc2p kinase activity fluctuates in APCcut mutants due to Cdc13/cyclin B destruction. In APC-null mutants, however, septation and cutting do not occur and Cdc13p is stable. We conclude that APC cut mutants are hypomorphic with respect to Cdc13p degradation. Indeed, overproduction of nondestructible Cdc13p prevents septation in APC cutmutants and the normal reorganization of septation initiation network components during anaphase.

A global census of fission yeast deubiquitinating enzyme localization and interaction networks reveals distinct compartmentalization profiles and overlapping functions in endocytosis and polarity.

Proteomic, localization, and enzymatic activity screens in fission yeast reveal how deubiquitinating enzyme localization and function are tuned.

CONSTRUCTION OF VECTORS AND A GENOMIC LIBRARY FOR USE WITH HIS3-DEFICIENT STRAINS OF SCHIZOSACCHAROMYCES POMBE

The construction of vectors for use in Schizosaccharomyces pombe using the his3+ gene as a selectable marker is described. In addition, we report the construction of a genomic library in a his3(+)-containing shuttle vector to facilitate the cloning of genes by complementation of mutant function in strains defective for His3 activity.