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Deletion of Mia1/Alp7 activates Mad2-dependent spindle assembly checkpoint in fission yeast

Nature Cell Biology volume 5, pages 764–766 (2003)Cite this article

To the editor:

In eukaryotic cells, the onset of anaphase is regulated by a checkpoint that monitors assembly of the mitotic spindle. Components of this checkpoint, which is often referred to as the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), include the Mad1, Mad2, Mad3 (BubR1), Bub1, Bub3 and Mps1 proteins1. In response to spindle damage, these proteins translocate to unattached kinetochores and inhibit the anaphase-promoting complex (APC). The APC is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that is responsible for the destruction of securin, an inhibitor of separase, and cyclin B. Separase cleaves Scc1/Rad21/Mcd1, a component of the cohesin complex that holds sister chromatids together2. In this manner, disruption of mitotic spindle integrity blocks anaphase onset by inhibiting the separation of sister chromatids.

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Figure 1: Spindle assembly checkpoint is activated in an alp7-deleted strain.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J.-P. Javerzat and T. Matsumoto for strains, K. Gull for monoclonal the anti-α-tubulin antibody TAT-1, and A. Fujita and A. Minoda for analysing alp7 mutants at the initial stage. We are grateful to M. Balasubramanian and S. Oliferenko for sending a mia1 deletion strain and communicating unpublished results. We also thank J.S. Hyams and Y. Gachet for helpful discussions. This work is supported by Cancer Research UK, a Human Frontier Science Program research grant (to T.T.) and the Medical Research Council (to J.B.A.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cell Regulation, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields Laboratories, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PX, UK

    Masamitsu Sato, Nirada Koonrugsa & Takashi Toda

  2. Room 539, Whitehead Institute, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, 02142, MA, USA

    Leah Vardy

  3. Division of Yeast Genetics, National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London, NW7 1AA, UK

    Sylvie Tournier & Jonathan B. A. Millar

Authors
  1. Masamitsu Sato
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  2. Nirada Koonrugsa
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Correspondence to Takashi Toda.

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Sato, M., Koonrugsa, N., Toda, T. et al. Deletion of Mia1/Alp7 activates Mad2-dependent spindle assembly checkpoint in fission yeast. Nat Cell Biol 5, 764–766 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb0903-764

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