The putative oncogene CEP72 inhibits the mitotic function of BRCA1 and induces chromosomal instability.

BRCA1 is a tumor-suppressor gene associated with, but not restricted to, breast and ovarian cancer and implicated in various biological functions. During mitosis, BRCA1 and its positive regulator Chk2 are localized at centrosomes and are required for the regulation of microtubule plus end assembly, thereby ensuring faithful mitosis and numerical chromosome stability. However, the function of BRCA1 during mitosis has not been defined mechanistically. To gain insights into the mitotic role of BRCA1 in regulating microtubule assembly, we systematically identified proteins interacting with BRCA1 during mitosis and found the centrosomal protein Cep72 as a novel BRCA1-interacting protein. CEP72 is frequently upregulated in colorectal cancer tissues and overexpression of CEP72 mirrors the consequences of BRCA1 loss during mitosis. In detail, the overexpression of CEP72 causes an increase in microtubule plus end assembly, abnormal mitotic spindle formation and the induction of chromosomal instability. Moreover, we show that high levels of Cep72 counteract Chk2 as a positive regulator of BRCA1 to ensure proper mitotic microtubule assembly. Thus, CEP72 represents a putative oncogene in colorectal cancer that might negatively regulate the mitotic function of BRCA1 to ensure chromosomal stability.

Elevating the level of Cdc34/Ubc3 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme in mitosis inhibits association of CENP-E with kinetochores and blocks the metaphase alignment of chromosomes.

Cdc34/Ubc3 is a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme that functions in targeting proteins for proteasome-mediated degradation at the G1 to S cell cycle transition. Elevation of Cdc34 protein levels by microinjection of bacterially expressed Cdc34 into mammalian cells at prophase inhibited chromosome congression to the metaphase plate with many chromosomes remaining near the spindle poles. Chromosome condensation and nuclear envelope breakdown occurred normally, and chromosomes showed oscillatory movements along mitotic spindle microtubules. Most injected cells arrested in a prometaphase-like state. Kinetochores, even those of chromosomes that failed to congress, possessed the normal trilaminar plate ultrastructure. The elevation of Cdc34 protein levels in early mitosis selectively blocked centromere protein E (CENP-E), a mitotic kinesin, from associating with kinetochores. Other proteins, including two CENP-E-associated proteins, BubR1 and phospho-p42/p44 mitogen-activated protein kinase, and mitotic centromere-associated kinesin, cytoplasmic dynein, Cdc20, and Mad2, all exhibited normal localization to kinetochores. Proteasome inhibitors did not affect the prometaphase arrest induced by Cdc34 injection. These studies suggest that CENP-E targeting to kinetochores is regulated by ubiquitylation not involving proteasome-mediated degradation.

Cell cycle-regulated proteolysis of mitotic target proteins.

The ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of mitotic cyclin B, which is catalyzed by the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme H10 (UbcH10), begins around the time of the metaphase-anaphase transition and continues through G1 phase of the next cell cycle. We have used cell-free systems from mammalian somatic cells collected at different cell cycle stages (G0, G1, S, G2, and M) to investigate the regulated degradation of four targets of the mitotic destruction machinery: cyclins A and B, geminin H (an inhibitor of S phase identified in Xenopus), and Cut2p (an inhibitor of anaphase onset identified in fission yeast). All four are degraded by G1 extracts but not by extracts of S phase cells. Maintenance of destruction during G1 requires the activity of a PP2A-like phosphatase. Destruction of each target is dependent on the presence of an N-terminal destruction box motif, is accelerated by additional wild-type UbcH10 and is blocked by dominant negative UbcH10. Destruction of each is terminated by a dominant activity that appears in nuclei near the start of S phase. Previous work indicates that the APC/C-dependent destruction of anaphase inhibitors is activated after chromosome alignment at the metaphase plate. In support of this, we show that addition of dominant negative UbcH10 to G1 extracts blocks destruction of the yeast anaphase inhibitor Cut2p in vitro, and injection of dominant negative UbcH10 blocks anaphase onset in vivo. Finally, we report that injection of dominant negative Ubc3/Cdc34, whose role in G1-S control is well established and has been implicated in kinetochore function during mitosis in yeast, dramatically interferes with congression of chromosomes to the metaphase plate. These results demonstrate that the regulated ubiquitination and destruction of critical mitotic proteins is highly conserved from yeast to humans.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kip1) induces N-terminal proteolytic cleavage of cyclin A.

Progression through the cell cycle is regulated in part by the sequential activation and inactivation of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Many signals arrest the cell cycle through inhibition of CDKs by CDK inhibitors (CKIs). p27(Kip1) (p27) was first identified as a CKI that binds and inhibits cyclin A/CDK2 and cyclin E/CDK2 complexes in G1. Here we report that p27 has an additional property, the ability to induce a proteolytic activity that cleaves cyclin A, yielding a truncated cyclin A lacking the mitotic destruction box. Other CKIs (p15(Ink4b), p16(Ink4a), p21(Cip1), and p57(Kip2)) do not induce cleavage of cyclin A; other cyclins (cyclin B, D1, and E) are not cleaved by the p27-induced protease activity. The C-terminal half of p27, which is dispensable for its kinase inhibitory activity, is required to induce cleavage. Mechanistically, p27 does not appear to cause cleavage through direct interaction with cyclin/CDK complexes. Instead, it activates a latent protease that, once activated, does not require the continuing presence of p27. Mutation of cyclin A at R70 or R71, residues at or very close to the cleavage site, blocks cleavage. Noncleavable mutants are still recognized by the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome pathway responsible for ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of mitotic cyclins, indicating that the p27-induced cleavage of cyclin A is part of a separate pathway. We refer to this protease as Tsap (pTwenty-seven- activated protease).

EWS/FLI1 up regulates mE2-C, a cyclin-selective ubiquitin conjugating enzyme involved in cyclin B destruction.

The EWS/FLI1 fusion gene found in Ewing's sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor, is able to transform certain cell lines by acting as an aberrant transcription factor. The ability of EWS/FLI1 to modulate gene expression in cells transformed and resistant to transformation by EWS/FLI1, was assessed by Representational Difference Analysis (RDA). We found that the cyclin selective ubiquitin conjugase murine E2-C, was up regulated in NIH3T3 cells transformed by EWS/FLI1 but not in a nontransformed NIH3T3 clone expressing EWS/FLI1. We also found that mE2-C is upregulated in NIH3T3 cells transformed by other genes including activated cdc42, v-ABL and c-myc. We demonstrated that expression of mE2-C in both the EWS/FLI1 transformed and parent NIH3T3 lines varies with the cell cycle. Finally, dominant-negative mE2-C, created by changing a catalytic cysteine to serine, inhibits the in vitro ubiquitination and degradation of cyclin B in human HeLa cell extracts. These data suggest that part of the biologic effect of EWS/FLI1 could be to transcriptionally modulate genes involved in cell cycle regulation.

The novel human protein serine/threonine phosphatase 6 is a functional homologue of budding yeast Sit4p and fission yeast ppe1, which are involved in cell cycle regulation.

We identified a novel human protein serine/threonine phosphatase cDNA, designated protein phosphatase 6 (PP6) by using a homology-based polymerase chain reaction. The predicted amino acid sequence indicates a 35 kDa protein showing high homology to other protein phosphatases including human PP2A (57%), human PP4 (59%), rat PPV (98%), Drosophila PPV (74%), Schizosaccharomyces pombe ppe1 (68%) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sit4p (61%). In human cells, three forms of PP6 mRNA were found with highest levels of expression in testis, heart and skeletal muscle. The PP6 protein was detected in lysates of human heart muscle and in bull testis. Complementation studies using a temperature sensitive mutant strain of S. cerevisiae SIT4, which is required for the G1 to S transition of the cell cycle, showed that PP6 can rescue the mutant growth arrest. In addition, a loss of function mutant of S. pombe ppe1, described as a gene interacting with the pim1/spi1 mitotic checkpoint and involved in cell shape control, can be complemented by expression of human PP6. These data indicate that human PP6 is a functional homologue of budding yeast Sit4p and fission yeast ppe1, implying a function of PP6 in cell cycle regulation.