Loss of Cdc2 activity following Cyclin B degradation is necessary, but not sufficient, for mitotic exit. Proteins phosphorylated by Cdc2 and downstream mitotic kinases must also be dephosphorylated. We report here that protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) is the major catalyst of mitotic phosphoprotein dephosphorylation. Suppression of PP1 during early mitosis is maintained through the dual inhibition of PP1 by Cdc2 phosphorylation and the binding of Inhibitor-1 (I1), which is facilitated by PKA-mediated I1 phosphorylation. As Cdc2 levels drop following Cyclin B degradation, autodephosphorylation of PP1 at the site of Cdc2 phosphorylation (T320) allows partial PP1 activation. This promotes PP1-regulated dephosphorylation of I1 at its activating site (T35), dissociation of the I1-PP1 complex, and full PP1 activation to promote mitotic exit. Thus, Cdc2 both phosphorylates multiple mitotic substrates and inhibits their PP1-mediated dephosphorylation.

Mitochondria form an interconnected network that undergoes dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-dependent fission during mitosis. We demonstrate that changes in mitochondrial dynamics as cells exit mitosis are driven through ubiquitylation of Drp1 by the (anaphase- promoting complex/cyclosome and its coactivator Cdh1) APC/CCdh1 complex. Inhibition Drp1 degradation prevents the normal regrowth of mitochondrial networks during G1 phase.

RNA editing is a molecular event that alters specific nucleotides in RNA post-transcriptionally. RNA editing has the potential to impact a variety of cellular processes and is implicated in diseases such as cancer. Yet, the precise mechanisms by which RNA editing controls cellular processes are poorly understood. Here, we characterize sequences altered by RNA editing in patient samples from lymphoma, neuroblastoma and head and neck cancers. We show that A-to-I RNA editing sites are highly conserved across samples of the same tissue type and that most editing sites identified in tumors are also detectable in normal tissues. Next, we identify the significant changes in editing levels of known sites between tumor and paired “normal” tissues across 14 cancer types (627 pairs) from The Cancer Genome Atlas project and show that the complexity of RNA editing regulation cannot be captured by the activity of ADAR family genes alone. Our pan-cancer analysis confirms previous results on individual tumor types and suggests that changes of RNA editing levels in coding and 3′UTR regions could be a general mechanism to promote tumor growth. We also propose a model explaining how altered RNA editing levels affect microRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation of oncogenes and tumor-suppressors.