Caenorhabditis elegans cyclin B3 is required for multiple mitotic processes including alleviation of a spindle checkpoint-dependent block in anaphase chromosome segregation.
PLoS Genet 2010;
6:e1001218. [PMID:
21124864 PMCID:
PMC2991249 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgen.1001218]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2010] [Accepted: 10/25/2010] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The master regulators of the cell cycle are cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), which influence the function of a myriad of proteins via phosphorylation. Mitotic Cdk1 is activated by A-type, as well as B1- and B2-type, cyclins. However, the role of a third, conserved cyclin B family member, cyclin B3, is less well defined. Here, we show that Caenorhabditis elegans CYB-3 has essential and distinct functions from cyclin B1 and B2 in the early embryo. CYB-3 is required for the timely execution of a number of cell cycle events including completion of the MII meiotic division of the oocyte nucleus, pronuclear migration, centrosome maturation, mitotic chromosome condensation and congression, and, most strikingly, progression through the metaphase-to-anaphase transition. Our experiments reveal that the extended metaphase delay in CYB-3–depleted embryos is dependent on an intact spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) and results in salient defects in the architecture of holocentric metaphase chromosomes. Furthermore, genetically increasing or decreasing dynein activity results in the respective suppression or enhancement of CYB-3–dependent defects in cell cycle progression. Altogether, these data reveal that CYB-3 plays a unique, essential role in the cell cycle including promoting mitotic dynein functionality and alleviation of a SAC–dependent block in anaphase chromosome segregation.
Every time a cell divides in two, the genetic material, DNA, is copied; each copied chromosome is referred to as a pair of sister chromatids. Each chromatid must be cleanly separated from its sister so that each daughter cell inherits the same DNA complement as the starting cell. The mitotic spindle is a cellular machine that physically separates the sister chromatids from one another. The chromatids are attached to the spindle at kinetochores, which are structures built at specific sites (centromeres) on each chromatid. The cell monitors the attachment of each chromatid and blocks their separation until they are all properly attached. This process is called the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). Here we report that loss of an evolutionarily conserved cell cycle regulator, Cyclin B3/CYB-3, results in an unusual and strikingly persistent SAC–dependent delay in sister chromatid separation. Furthermore, CYB-3 promotes the activity of a cellular motor, dynein, in this and other mitotic processes. Altogether, our results indicate that Cyclin B3 genetically interacts with mitotic dynein and is absolutely required to satisfy a SAC–dependent inhibition in sister chromatid separation.
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