Summary In eukaryotes, cytokinesis generally involves an acto-myosin ring, the contraction of which promotes daughter cells segregation. Assembly of the contractile ring is tightly controlled in space and time (see[1–4] for reviews). In the fission yeast, contractile ring components are first organized by the Anillin-like protein Mid1 [5, 6] and Cdr2 kinase [7–9] into medial cortical nodes. These nodes then coalesce laterally into a functional compact contractile ring [10–13]. Although Mid1 is present at the medial cortex throughout G2 phase [14], recruitment of contractile ring components to nodes starts only at mitotic onset [12] indicating that this event is cell cycle regulated. Polo kinases are key temporal coordinators of mitosis and cytokinesis [1] and the Polo-like kinase Plo1 [15] has long been implicated in Mid1 regulation [16]: Plo1 activates Mid1 nuclear export at mitotic onset [16], coupling division plane specification to nuclear position [7]. Here, we provide evidence that Plo1 also triggers the recruitment of contractile ring components into medial cortical nodes. Plo1 binds at least two independent sites on Mid1, including a consensus site phosphorylated by Cdc2. Plo1 phosphorylates several residues within the first 100 amino acids of Mid1, which directly interact with the IQGAP Rng2 [17], and influences the timing of Myosin II recruitment. Plo1 thereby facilitates contractile ring assembly at mitotic onset.
Summary Cdc14-family phosphatases play a conserved role in promoting mitotic exit and cytokinesis by dephosphorylating substrates of cyclin dependent kinase (Cdk). Cdc14-family phosphatases have been best studied in yeast (for review see [1] [2]), where budding yeast Cdc14 and its fission yeast homolog Clp1 are regulated in part by their localization, with both proteins thought to be sequestered in the nucleolus in interphase. Cdc14/Clp1 are released from the nucleolus in mitosis, and in late mitosis a conserved signaling pathway termed the MEN/SIN acts through an unknown mechanism to keep Cdc14 and Clp1 respectively out of the nucleolus [3-6]. Here we show that the most downstream SIN component, the Ndr-family kinase Sid2, acts to maintain Clp1 in the cytoplasm in late mitosis by phosphorylating Clp1 directly and thereby creating binding sites for the 14-3-3 protein Rad24. Mutation of the Sid2 phosphorylation sites on Clp1 disrupts the interaction between Clp1 and Rad24, and causes premature return of Clp1 to the nucleolus during cytokinesis. Loss of Clp1 from the cytoplasm in telophase renders cells sensitive to perturbation of the actomyosin ring, but does not affect other functions of Clp1. Because all components of this pathway are conserved, this might be a broadly conserved mechanism for regulation of Cdc14-family phosphatases.
Cdc14 phosphatases antagonize cyclin-dependent kinase–directed phosphorylation events and are involved in several facets of cell cycle control. We investigate the role of the fission yeast Cdc14 homologue Clp1/Flp1 in cytokinesis. We find that Clp1/Flp1 is tethered at the contractile ring (CR) through its association with anillin-related Mid1. Fluorescent recovery after photobleaching analyses indicate that Mid1, unlike other tested CR components, is anchored at the cell midzone, and this physical property is likely to account for its scaffolding role. By generating a mutation in mid1 that selectively disrupts Clp1/Flp1 tethering, we reveal the specific functional consequences of Clp1/Flp1 activity at the CR, including dephosphorylation of the essential CR component Cdc15, reductions in CR protein mobility, and CR resistance to mild perturbation. Our evidence indicates that Clp1/Flp1 must interact with the Mid1 scaffold to ensure the fidelity of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cytokinesis.
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