Biomedical subjects

Kim Nasmyth

Publications and source records attributed to Kim Nasmyth.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed2003

Division of the nucleolus and its release of CDC14 during anaphase of meiosis I depends on separase, SPO12, and SLK19.

Disjunction of maternal and paternal centromeres during meiosis I requires crossing over between homologous chromatids, which creates chiasmata that hold homologs together. It also depends on a mechanism ensuring that maternal and paternal sister kinetochore pairs attach to oppositely oriented microtubules. Proteolytic cleavage of cohesin's Rec8 subunit by separase destroys cohesion between sister chromatid arms at anaphase I and thereby resolves chiasmata. The Spo12 and Slk19 proteins have been implicated in regulating meiosis I kinetochore orientation and/or in preventing cleavage of Rec8 at centromeres. We show here that the role of these proteins is instead to promote nucleolar segregation, including release of the Cdc14 phosphatase required for Cdk1 inactivation and disassembly of the anaphase I spindle. Separase is also required but surprisingly not its protease activity. It has two mechanistically different roles during meiosis I. Loss of the protease-independent function alone results in a second meiotic division occurring on anaphase I spindles in spo12delta and slk19delta mutants.

Anaphase↗

PubMed2003

Polo-like kinase Cdc5 promotes chiasmata formation and cosegregation of sister centromeres at meiosis I.

During meiosis, two rounds of chromosome segregation occur after a single round of DNA replication, producing haploid progeny from diploid progenitors. Three innovations in chromosome behaviour during meiosis I accomplish this unique division. First, crossovers between maternal and paternal sister chromatids (detected cytologically as chiasmata) bind replicated maternal and paternal chromosomes together. Second, sister kinetochores attach to microtubules from the same pole (mono-polar orientation), causing maternal and paternal centromere pairs (and not sister chromatids) to be separated. Third, sister chromatid cohesion near centromeres is preserved at anaphase I when cohesion along chromosome arms is destroyed. The finding that destruction of mitotic cohesion is regulated by Polo-like kinases prompted us to investigate the meiotic role of the yeast Polo-like kinase Cdc5. We show here that cells lacking Cdc5 synapse homologues and initiate recombination normally, but fail to efficiently resolve recombination intermediates as crossovers. They also fail to properly localize the Lrs4 (ref. 3) and Mam1 (ref. 4) monopolin proteins, resulting in bipolar orientation of sister kinetochores. Cdc5 is thus required both for the formation of chiasmata and for cosegregation of sister centromeres at meiosis I.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗

PubMed2002

Segregating sister genomes: the molecular biology of chromosome separation.

During cell division, each daughter cell inherits one copy of every chromosome. Accurate transmission of chromosomes requires that the sister DNA molecules created during DNA replication are disentangled and then pulled to opposite poles of the cell before division. Defects in chromosome segregation produce cells that are aneuploid (containing an abnormal number of chromosomes)-a situation that can have dire consequences. Aneuploidy is a leading cause of spontaneous miscarriages in humans and is also a hallmark of many human cancer cells. Recent work with yeast, Xenopus, and other model systems has provided new information about the proteins that control chromosome segregation during cell division and how the activities of these proteins are coordinated with the cell cycle.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

PubMed2002

Eco1 is a novel acetyltransferase that can acetylate proteins involved in cohesion.

Cohesion between sister chromatids is established during S phase and maintained through G2 phase until it is resolved in anaphase (for review, see [1-3]). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a complex consisting of Scc1, Smc1, Smc3, and Scc3 proteins, called "cohesin," mediates the connection between sister chromatids. The evolutionary conserved yeast protein Eco1 is required for establishment of sister chromatid cohesion during S phase but not for its further maintenance during G2 or M phases or for loading the cohesin complex onto DNA. We address the molecular functions of Eco1 with sensitive sequence analytic techniques, including hidden Markov model domain fragment searches. We found a two-domain architecture with an N-terminal C2H2 Zn finger-like domain and an approximately 150 residue C-terminal domain with an apparent acetyl coenzyme A binding motif (http://mendel.imp.univie.ac.at/SEQUENCES/ECO1/). Biochemical tests confirm that Eco1 has the acetyltransferase activity in vitro. In vitro Eco1 acetylates itself and components of the cohesin complex but not histones. Thus, the establishment of cohesion between sister chromatids appears to be regulated, directly or indirectly, by a specific acetyltransferase.

Acetylation↗

PubMed2002

Evidence that the Ipl1-Sli15 (Aurora kinase-INCENP) complex promotes chromosome bi-orientation by altering kinetochore-spindle pole connections.

How sister kinetochores attach to microtubules from opposite spindle poles during mitosis (bi-orientation) remains poorly understood. In yeast, the ortholog of the Aurora B-INCENP protein kinase complex (Ipl1-Sli15) may have a role in this crucial process, because it is necessary to prevent attachment of sister kinetochores to microtubules from the same spindle pole. We investigated IPL1 function in cells that cannot replicate their chromosomes but nevertheless duplicate their spindle pole bodies (SPBs). Kinetochores detach from old SPBs and reattach to old and new SPBs with equal frequency in IPL1+ cells, but remain attached to old SPBs in ipl1 mutants. This raises the possibility that Ipl1-Sli15 facilitates bi-orientation by promoting turnover of kinetochore-SPB connections until traction of sister kinetochores toward opposite spindle poles creates tension in the surrounding chromatin.

Aurora Kinases↗

PubMed2002

Molecular architecture of SMC proteins and the yeast cohesin complex.

Sister chromatids are held together by the multisubunit cohesin complex, which contains two SMC (Smc1 and Smc3) and two non-SMC (Scc1 and Scc3) proteins. The crystal structure of a bacterial SMC "hinge" region along with EM studies and biochemical experiments on yeast Smc1 and Smc3 proteins show that SMC protamers fold up individually into rod-shaped molecules. A 45 nm long intramolecular coiled coil separates the hinge region from the ATPase-containing "head" domain. Smc1 and Smc3 bind to each other via heterotypic interactions between their hinges to form a V-shaped heterodimer. The two heads of the V-shaped dimer are connected by different ends of the cleavable Scc1 subunit. Cohesin therefore forms a large proteinaceous loop within which sister chromatids might be entrapped after DNA replication.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗