The ubiquitin ligase CRL2ZYG11 targets cyclin B1 for degradation in a conserved pathway that facilitates mitotic slippage.

The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) ubiquitin ligase is known to target the degradation of cyclin B1, which is crucial for mitotic progression in animal cells. In this study, we show that the ubiquitin ligase CRL2ZYG-11 redundantly targets the degradation of cyclin B1 in Caenorhabditis elegans and human cells. In C. elegans, both CRL2ZYG-11 and APC/C are required for proper progression through meiotic divisions. In human cells, inactivation of CRL2ZYG11A/B has minimal effects on mitotic progression when APC/C is active. However, when APC/C is inactivated or cyclin B1 is overexpressed, CRL2ZYG11A/B-mediated degradation of cyclin B1 is required for normal progression through metaphase. Mitotic cells arrested by the spindle assembly checkpoint, which inactivates APC/C, often exit mitosis in a process termed "mitotic slippage," which generates tetraploid cells and limits the effectiveness of antimitotic chemotherapy drugs. We show that ZYG11A/B subunit knockdown, or broad cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase inactivation with the small molecule MLN4924, inhibits mitotic slippage in human cells, suggesting the potential for antimitotic combination therapy.

Embryogenesis: Degenerate phosphatases control the oocyte-to-embryo transition.

The oocyte-to-embryo transition requires drastic reorganizations within a short timeframe. Recent studies show that, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, phosphotyrosine-binding pseudo-phosphatases are key regulators of this critical developmental transition.