Mitosis is a highly regulated process in which errors can lead to genomic instability, a hallmark of cancer. During this phase of the cell cycle, transcription is silent and RNA translation is inhibited. Thus, mitosis is largely driven by posttranslational modification of proteins, including phosphorylation, methylation, ubiquitination and sumoylation. Here, we show that protein acetylation is prevalent during mitosis. To identify proteins that are acetylated, we synchronized HeLa cells in early prometaphase and immunoprecipitated lysine-acetylated proteins with antiacetyl-lysine antibody. The immunoprecipitated proteins were identified by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. These include proteins involved in RNA translation, RNA processing, cell cycle regulation, transcription, chaperone function, DNA damage repair, metabolism, immune response and cell structure. Immunoprecipitation followed by Western blot analyses confirmed that two RNA processing proteins, eIF4G and RNA helicase A, and several cell cycle proteins, including APC1, anillin and NudC, were acetylated in mitosis. We further showed that acetylation of APC1 and NudC was enhanced by apicidin treatment, suggesting that their acetylation was regulated by histone deacetylase. Moreover, treating mitotic cells with apicidin or trichostatin A induced spindle abnormalities and cytokinesis failure. These studies suggest that protein acetylation/ deacetylation is likely an important regulatory mechanism in mitosis.
Protein acetylation has been implicated in playing an important role during mitotic progression. Aurora B kinase is known to play a critical role in mitosis. However, whether Aurora B is regulated by acetylation is not known. Using IP with an anti-acetyl lysine antibody, we identified Aurora B as an acetylated protein in PC3 prostate cancer cells. Knockdown of HDAC3 or inhibiting HDAC3 deacetylase activity led to a significant increase (P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively) in Aurora B acetylation as compared to siLuc or vehicle-treated controls. Increased Aurora B acetylation is correlated with a 30% reduction in Aurora B kinase activity in vitro and resulted in significant defects in Aurora B-dependent mitotic processes, including kinetochore-microtubule attachment and chromosome congression. Furthermore, Aurora B transiently interacts with HDAC3 at the kinetochore-microtubule interface of congressing chromosomes during prometaphase. This window of interaction corresponded with a transient but significant reduction (P=0.02) in Aurora B acetylation during early mitosis. Together, these results indicate that Aurora B is more active in its deacetylated state and further suggest a new mechanism by which dynamic acetylation/deacetylation acts as a rheostat to fine-tune Aurora B activity during mitotic progression.
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