Cross talk between NDR kinase pathways coordinates cytokinesis with cell separation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Fission yeast polycystin Pkd2p promotes cell size expansion and antagonizes the Hippo-related SIN pathway

Polycystins are conserved mechanosensitive channels whose mutations lead to the common human renal disorder autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Previously, we discovered that the plasma membrane-localized fission yeast polycystin homolog Pkd2p is an essential protein required for cytokinesis; however, its role remains unclear. Here, we isolated a novel temperature-sensitive pkd2 mutant, pkd2-B42. Among the strong growth defects of this mutant, the most striking was that many mutant cells often lost a significant portion of their volume in just 5 min followed by a gradual recovery, a process that we termed 'deflation'. Unlike cell lysis, deflation did not result in plasma membrane rupture and occurred independently of cell cycle progression. The tip extension of pkd2-B42 cells was 80% slower than that of wild-type cells, and their turgor pressure was 50% lower. Both pkd2-B42 and the hypomorphic depletion mutant pkd2-81KD partially rescued mutants of the septation initiation network (SIN), a yeast Hippo-related signaling pathway, by preventing cell lysis, enhancing septum formation and doubling the number of Sid2p and Mob1p molecules at the spindle pole bodies. We conclude that Pkd2p promotes cell size expansion during interphase by regulating turgor pressure and antagonizes the SIN during cytokinesis. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Cdc42 reactivation at growth sites is regulated by local cell-cycle-dependent loss of its GTPase-activating protein Rga4 in fission yeast

In fission yeast, polarized cell growth stops during division and resumes after cytokinesis completes and cells separate. It is unclear how growth reactivation is timed to occur immediately after cell separation. We uncoupled these sequential events by delaying cytokinesis with a temporary Latrunculin A treatment. Mitotic cells recovering from treatment initiate end growth during septation, displaying a polar elongation simultaneous with septation (PrESS) phenotype. PrESS cell ends reactivate Cdc42, a major regulator of polarized growth, during septation, but at a fixed time after anaphase B. A candidate screen implicates Rga4, a negative regulator of Cdc42, in this process. We show that Rga4 appears punctate at the cell sides during G2, but is diffuse during mitosis, extending to the ends. Although the Morphogenesis Orb6 (MOR) pathway is known to promote cell separation and growth by activating protein synthesis, we find that, for polarized growth, removal of Rga4 from the ends is also necessary. Therefore, we propose that growth resumes after division once the MOR pathway is activated and the ends lose Rga4 in a cell-cycle-dependent manner.

NDR2 kinase contributes to cell invasion and cytokinesis defects induced by the inactivation of RASSF1A tumor-suppressor gene in lung cancer cells

Background

RASSF1A, a tumor suppressor gene, is frequently inactivated in lung cancer leading to a YAP-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Such effects are partly due to the inactivation of the anti-migratory RhoB GTPase via the inhibitory phosphorylation of GEF-H1, the GDP/GTP exchange factor for RhoB. However, the kinase responsible for RhoB/GEF-H1 inactivation in RASSF1A-depleted cells remained unknown.

Methods

NDR1/2 inactivation by siRNA or shRNA effects on epithelial-mesenchymal transition, invasion, xenograft formation and growth in SCID−/− Beige mice, apoptosis, proliferation, cytokinesis, YAP/TAZ activation were investigated upon RASSF1A loss in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC).

Results

We demonstrate here that depletion of the YAP-kinases NDR1/2 reverts migration and metastatic properties upon RASSF1A loss in HBEC. We show that NDR2 interacts directly with GEF-H1 (which contains the NDR phosphorylation consensus motif HXRXXS/T), leading to GEF-H1 phosphorylation. We further report that the RASSF1A/NDR2/GEF-H1/RhoB/YAP axis is involved in proper cytokinesis in human bronchial cells, since chromosome proper segregation are NDR-dependent upon RASSF1A or GEF-H1 loss in HBEC.

Conclusion

To summarize, our data support a model in which, upon RASSF1A silencing, NDR2 gets activated, phosphorylates and inactivates GEF-H1, leading to RhoB inactivation. This cascade induced by RASSF1A loss in bronchial cells is responsible for metastasis properties, YAP activation and cytokinesis defects.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-019-1145-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

NDR Kinase Sid2 Drives Anillin-like Mid1 from the Membrane to Promote Cytokinesis and Medial Division Site Placement

In animals and fungi, cytokinesis is facilitated by the constriction of an actomyosin contractile ring (CR) [1]. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the CR forms mid-cell during mitosis from clusters of proteins at the medial cell cortex called nodes [2]. The anillin-like protein Mid1 localizes to nodes and is required for CR assembly at mid-cell [3]. When CR constriction begins, Mid1 leaves the division site. How Mid1 disassociates and whether this step is important for cytokinetic progression has been unknown. The septation initiation network (SIN), analogous to the Hippo pathway of multicellular organisms, is a signaling cascade that triggers node dispersal, CR assembly and constriction, and septum formation [4, 5]. We report that the terminal SIN kinase, Sid2 [6], phosphorylates Mid1 to drive its removal from the cortex at CR constriction onset. A Mid1 mutant that cannot be phosphorylated by Sid2 remains cortical during cytokinesis, over-accumulates in interphase nodes following cell division in a manner dependent on the SAD kinase Cdr2, advances the G2/M transition, precociously recruits other CR components to nodes, pulls Cdr2 aberrantly into the CR, and reduces rates of CR maturation and constriction. When combined with cdr2 mutants that affect node assembly or disassembly, gross defects in division site positioning result. Our findings identify Mid1 as a key Sid2 substrate for SIN-mediated remodeling of the division site for efficient cytokinesis and provide evidence that nodes serve to integrate signals coordinating cell cycle progression and cytokinesis.

Fission yeast type 2 node proteins Blt1p and Gef2p cooperate to ensure timely completion of cytokinesis

Background

The conserved NDR-family kinase Sid2p localizes to the contractile ring during fission yeast cytokinesis to promote ring constriction, septation, and completion of cell division. Previous studies have found that the Type 2 interphase node proteins Blt1p and Gef2p contribute to localization of Sid2p and its regulatory protein Mob1p at the division site. However, their relative contributions and whether they operate in the same or parallel pathways has been unclear. In this study, we quantify the respective roles of Blt1p and Gef2p in Sid2p/Mob1p recruitment and characterize the effect of single and double deletion mutants on contractile ring dynamics and completion of cell division.

Results

Using quantitative confocal fluorescence microscopy, we measured Sid2p and Mob1p recruitment to the division site in blt1∆, gef2∆, and blt1∆/gef2∆ mutant cells. We observed an equivalent decrease in Sid2p/Mob1p localization for both single and double mutants. Though assembly of the contractile ring is normal in these mutants, the reduction in Sid2p/Mob1p at the division site delayed the onset of contractile ring constriction and completion of division. We quantified localization of Blt1p and Gef2p at the medial cortex throughout the cell cycle and found that Blt1p localization to interphase nodes and the contractile ring is independent of Gef2p. However, Gef2p localization to the contractile ring is decreased in blt1∆ mutants.

Conclusions

Blt1p and Gef2p work in the same pathway, rather than in parallel, to localize the NDR-family kinase Sid2p and its regulatory partner Mob1p to the division site, thereby promoting timely completion of cell division. Future studies are necessary to understand how additional fission yeast cytokinesis proteins work with these Type 2 interphase node components to promote Sid2p/Mob1p recruitment.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12860-018-0182-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A cell separation checkpoint that enforces the proper order of late cytokinetic events

Eukaryotic cell division requires dependency relationships in which late processes commence only after early ones are appropriately completed. We have discovered a system that blocks late events of cytokinesis until early ones are successfully accomplished. In budding yeast, cytokinetic actomyosin ring contraction and membrane ingression are coupled with deposition of an extracellular septum that is selectively degraded in its primary septum immediately after its completion by secreted enzymes. We find this secretion event is linked to septum completion and forestalled when the process is slowed. Delay of septum degradation requires Fir1, an intrinsically disordered protein localized to the cytokinesis site that is degraded upon septum completion but stabilized when septation is aberrant. Fir1 protects cytokinesis in part by inhibiting a separation-specific exocytosis function of the NDR/LATS kinase Cbk1, a key component of "hippo" signaling that induces mother-daughter separation. We term this system enforcement of cytokinesis order, a checkpoint ensuring proper temporal sequence of mechanistically incompatible processes of cytokinesis.

Ndr kinases regulate retinal interneuron proliferation and homeostasis

Ndr2/Stk38l encodes a protein kinase associated with the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway and is mutated in a naturally-occurring canine early retinal degeneration (erd). To elucidate the retinal functions of Ndr2 and its paralog Ndr1/Stk38, we generated Ndr1 and Ndr2 single knockout mice. Although retinal lamination appeared normal in these mice, Ndr deletion caused a subset of Pax6-positive amacrine cells to proliferate in differentiated retinas, while concurrently decreasing the number of GABAergic, HuD and Pax6-positive amacrine cells. Retinal transcriptome analyses revealed that Ndr2 deletion increased expression of neuronal stress genes and decreased expression of synaptic organization genes. Consistent with the latter, Ndr deletion dramatically reduced levels of Aak1, an Ndr substrate that regulates vesicle trafficking. Our findings indicate that Ndr kinases are important regulators of amacrine and photoreceptor cells and suggest that Ndr kinases inhibit the proliferation of a subset of terminally differentiated cells and modulate interneuron synapse function via Aak1.

Introduction to Fission Yeast as a Model System

Here, we briefly outline the history of fission yeast, its life cycle, and aspects of its biology that make it a useful model organism for studying problems of eukaryotic molecular and cell biology.

Spatial control of translation repression and polarized growth by conserved NDR kinase Orb6 and RNA-binding protein Sts5

RNA-binding proteins contribute to the formation of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules by phase transition, but regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Conserved fission yeast NDR (Nuclear Dbf2-Related) kinase Orb6 governs cell morphogenesis in part by spatially controlling Cdc42 GTPase. Here we describe a novel, independent function for Orb6 kinase in negatively regulating the recruitment of RNA-binding protein Sts5 into RNPs to promote polarized cell growth. We find that Orb6 kinase inhibits Sts5 recruitment into granules, its association with processing (P) bodies, and degradation of Sts5-bound mRNAs by promoting Sts5 interaction with 14-3-3 protein Rad24. Many Sts5-bound mRNAs encode essential factors for polarized cell growth, and Orb6 kinase spatially and temporally controls the extent of Sts5 granule formation. Disruption of this control system affects cell morphology and alters the pattern of polarized cell growth, revealing a role for Orb6 kinase in the spatial control of translational repression that enables normal cell morphogenesis.

Overview of fission yeast septation

Cytokinesis is the final process of the vegetative cycle, which divides a cell into two independent daughter cells once mitosis is completed. In fungi, as in animal cells, cytokinesis requires the formation of a cleavage furrow originated by constriction of an actomyosin ring which is connected to the plasma membrane and causes its invagination. Additionally, because fungal cells have a polysaccharide cell wall outside the plasma membrane, cytokinesis requires the formation of a septum coincident with the membrane ingression. Fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a unicellular, rod-shaped fungus that has become a popular model organism for the study of actomyosin ring formation and constriction during cell division. Here we review the current knowledge of the septation and separation processes in this fungus, as well as recent advances in understanding the functional interaction between the transmembrane enzymes that build the septum and the actomyosin ring proteins.

The price of independence: cell separation in fission yeast

The ultimate goal of cell division is to give rise to two viable independent daughter cells. A tight spatial and temporal regulation between chromosome segregation and cytokinesis ensures the viability of the daughter cells. Schizosaccharomyces pombe, commonly known as fission yeast, has become a leading model organism for studying essential and conserved mechanisms of the eukaryotic cell division process. Like many other eukaryotic cells it divides by binary fission and the cleavage furrow undergoes ingression due to the contraction of an actomyosin ring. In contrast to mammalian cells, yeasts as cell-walled organisms, also need to form a division septum made of cell wall material to complete the process of cytokinesis. The division septum is deposited behind the constricting ring and it will constitute the new ends of the daughter cells. Cell separation also involves cell wall degradation and this process should be precisely regulated to avoid cell lysis. In this review, we will give a brief overview of the whole cytokinesis process in fission yeast, from the positioning and assembly of the contractile ring to the final step of cell separation, and the problems generated when these processes are not precise.

MST kinases in development and disease

The mammalian MST kinase family, which is related to the Hippo kinase in Drosophila melanogaster, includes five related proteins: MST1 (also called STK4), MST2 (also called STK3), MST3 (also called STK24), MST4, and YSK1 (also called STK25 or SOK1). MST kinases are emerging as key signaling molecules that influence cell proliferation, organ size, cell migration, and cell polarity. Here we review the regulation and function of these kinases in normal physiology and pathologies, including cancer, endothelial malformations, and autoimmune disease.