Spindle Size Scaling Contributes to Robust Silencing of Mitotic Spindle Assembly Checkpoint

Spatial control over near-critical-point operation ensures fidelity of ParABS-mediated DNA partition

In bacteria, most low-copy-number plasmid and chromosomally encoded partition systems belong to the tripartite ParABS partition machinery. Despite the importance in genetic inheritance, the mechanisms of ParABS-mediated genome partition are not well understood. Combining theory and experiment, we provided evidence that the ParABS system-DNA partitioning in vivo via the ParA-gradient-based Brownian ratcheting-operates near a transition point in parameter space (i.e., a critical point), across which the system displays qualitatively different motile behaviors. This near-critical-point operation adapts the segregation distance of replicated plasmids to the half length of the elongating nucleoid, ensuring both cell halves to inherit one copy of the plasmids. Further, we demonstrated that the plasmid localizes the cytoplasmic ParA to buffer the partition fidelity against the large cell-to-cell fluctuations in ParA level. The spatial control over the near-critical-point operation not only ensures both sensitive adaptation and robust execution of partitioning but also sheds light on the fundamental question in cell biology: how do cells faithfully measure cellular-scale distance by only using molecular-scale interactions?

Spindle Architectural Features Must Be Considered Along With Cell Size to Explain the Timing of Mitotic Checkpoint Silencing

Mitosis proceeds through a defined series of events that is largely conserved, but the amount of time needed for their completion can vary in different cells and organisms. In many systems, mitotic duration depends on the time required to satisfy and silence the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), also known as the mitotic checkpoint. Because SAC silencing involves trafficking SAC molecules among kinetochores, spindle, and cytoplasm, the size and geometry of the spindle relative to cell volume are expected to affect mitotic duration by influencing the timing of SAC silencing. However, the relationship between SAC silencing, cell size, and spindle dimensions is unclear. To investigate this issue, we used four DLD-1 tetraploid (4N) clones characterized by small or large nuclear and cell size. We found that the small 4N clones had longer mitotic durations than the parental DLD-1 cells and that this delay was due to differences in their metaphase duration. Leveraging a previous mathematical model for spatiotemporal regulation of SAC silencing, we show that the difference in metaphase duration, i.e., SAC silencing time, can be explained by the distinct spindle microtubule densities and sizes of the cell, spindle, and spindle poles in the 4N clones. Lastly, we demonstrate that manipulating spindle geometry can alter mitotic and metaphase duration, consistent with a model prediction. Our results suggest that spindle size does not always scale with cell size in mammalian cells and cell size is not sufficient to explain the differences in metaphase duration. Only when a number of spindle architectural features are considered along with cell size can the kinetics of SAC silencing, and hence mitotic duration, in the different clones be explained.

Implications of alternative routes to APC/C inhibition by the mitotic checkpoint complex

The mitotic checkpoint (also called spindle assembly checkpoint) is a signaling pathway that ensures faithful chromosome segregation. Mitotic checkpoint proteins inhibit the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C) and its activator Cdc20 to prevent precocious anaphase. Checkpoint signaling leads to a complex of APC/C, Cdc20, and checkpoint proteins, in which the APC/C is inactive. In principle, this final product of the mitotic checkpoint can be obtained via different pathways, whose relevance still needs to be fully ascertained experimentally. Here, we use mathematical models to compare the implications on checkpoint response of the possible pathways leading to APC/C inhibition. We identify a previously unrecognized funneling effect for Cdc20, which favors Cdc20 incorporation into the inhibitory complex and therefore promotes checkpoint activity. Furthermore, we find that the presence or absence of one specific assembly reaction determines whether the checkpoint remains functional at elevated levels of Cdc20, which can occur in cancer cells. Our results reveal the inhibitory logics behind checkpoint activity, predict checkpoint efficiency in perturbed situations, and could inform molecular strategies to treat malignancies that exhibit Cdc20 overexpression.

Cell division is a fundamental event in the life of cells. It requires that a mother cell gives rise to two daughters which carry the same genetic material of their mother. Thus, during each cell cycle the genetic material needs to be replicated, compacted into chromosomes and redistributed to the two daughter cells. Any mistake in chromosome segregation would attribute the wrong number of chromosomes to the progeny. Hence, the process of chromosome segregation is closely watched by a surveillance mechanism known as the mitotic checkpoint. The molecular players of the checkpoint pathway are well known: we know both the input (ie, the species to be inhibited and their inhibitors), and the output (ie, the inhibited species). However, we do not exactly know the path that leads from the former to the latter. In this manuscript, we use a mathematical approach to explore the properties of plausible mitotic checkpoint networks. We find that seemingly similar circuits show very different behaviors for high levels of the protein targeted by the mitotic checkpoint, Cdc20. Interestingly, this protein is often overexpressed in cancer cells. For physiological levels of Cdc20, instead, all the models we have analyzed are capable to mount an efficient response. We find that this is due to a series of consecutive protein-protein binding reactions that funnel Cdc20 towards its inhibited state. We call this the funneling effect. Our analysis helps understanding the inhibitory logics underlying the checkpoint, and proposes new concepts that could be applied to other inhibitory pathways.

Subcellular scaling: does size matter for cell division?

Among different species or cell types, or during early embryonic cell divisions that occur in the absence of cell growth, the size of subcellular structures, including the nucleus, chromosomes, and mitotic spindle, scale with cell size. Maintaining correct subcellular scales is thought to be important for many cellular processes and, in particular, for mitosis. In this review, we provide an update on nuclear and chromosome scaling mechanisms and their significance in metazoans, with a focus on Caenorhabditis elegans, Xenopus and mammalian systems, for which a common role for the Ran (Ras-related nuclear protein)-dependent nuclear transport system has emerged.

The mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC): looking back and forth after 15 years

The mitotic checkpoint is a specialized signal transduction pathway that contributes to the fidelity of chromosome segregation. The signaling of the checkpoint originates from defective kinetochore-microtubule interactions and leads to formation of the mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC), a highly potent inhibitor of the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C)—the E3 ubiquitin ligase essential for anaphase onset. Many important questions concerning the MCC and its interaction with APC/C have been intensively investigated and debated in the past 15 years, such as the exact composition of the MCC, how it is assembled during a cell cycle, how it inhibits APC/C, and how the MCC is disassembled to allow APC/C activation. These efforts have culminated in recently reported structure models for human MCC:APC/C supra-complexes at near-atomic resolution that shed light on multiple aspects of the mitotic checkpoint mechanisms. However, confusing statements regarding the MCC are still scattered in the literature, making it difficult for students and scientists alike to obtain a clear picture of MCC composition, structure, function and dynamics. This review will comb through some of the most popular concepts or misconceptions about the MCC, discuss our current understandings, present a synthesized model on regulation of CDC20 ubiquitination, and suggest a few future endeavors and cautions for next phase of MCC research.