In early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, asymmetric cell divisions produce descendants with asynchronous cell cycle times. To investigate the relationship between cell cycle regulation and pattern formation, we have identified a collection of embryonic-lethal mutants in which cell divisions are delayed and cell fate patterns are abnormal. In div (for division delayed) mutant embryos, embryonic cell divisions are delayed but remain asynchronous. Some div mutants produce well-differentiated cell types, but they frequently lack the endodermal and mesodermal cell fates normally specified by a transcriptional activator called SKN-1. We show that mislocalization of PIE-1, a negative regulator of SKN-1, prevents the specification of endoderm and mesoderm in div-1 mutant embryos. In addition to defects in the normally asymmetric distribution of PIE-1, div mutants also exhibit other losses of asymmetry during early embryonic cleavages. The daughters of normally asymmetric divisions are nearly equal in size, and cytoplasmic P-granules are not properly localized to germline precursors in div mutant embryos. Thus the proper timing of cell division appears to be important for multiple aspects of asymmetric cell division. One div gene, div-1, encodes the B subunit of the DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex. Reducing the function of other DNA replication genes also results in a delayed division phenotype and embryonic lethality. Thus the other div genes we have identified are likely to encode additional components of the DNA replication machinery in C. elegans.
During mitosis, chromosome segregation is regulated by a spindle checkpoint mechanism. This checkpoint delays anaphase until all kinetochores are captured by microtubules from both spindle poles, chromosomes congress to the metaphase plate, and the tension between kinetochores and their attached microtubules is properly sensed. Although the spindle checkpoint can be activated in many different cell types, the role of this regulatory mechanism in rapidly dividing embryonic animal cells has remained controversial. Here, using time-lapse imaging of live embryonic cells, we show that chemical or mutational disruption of the mitotic spindle in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryos delays progression through mitosis. By reducing the function of conserved checkpoint genes in mutant embryos with defective mitotic spindles, we show that these delays require the spindle checkpoint. In the absence of a functional checkpoint, more severe defects in chromosome segregation are observed in mutants with abnormal mitotic spindles. We also show that the conserved kinesin CeMCAK, the CENP-F-related proteins HCP-1 and HCP-2, and the core kinetochore protein CeCENP-C all are required for this checkpoint. Our analysis indicates that spindle checkpoint mechanisms are functional in the rapidly dividing cells of an early animal embryo and that this checkpoint can prevent chromosome segregation defects during mitosis. INTRODUCTIONDuring mitosis, some microtubules emanating from bipolar microtubule organizing centers grow toward chromosomes and attach to specialized chromosomal regions called kinetochores (Skibbens and Hieter, 1998;Cleveland et al., 2003). Once captured, sister chromatids are segregated, one to each of two daughter cells. Eukaryotic cells have evolved a mechanism called the spindle checkpoint, to monitor chromosomal segregation and increase the fidelity of mitosis (reviewed in Gardner and Burke, 2000;McIntosh et al., 2002). Until spindle microtubules from both poles capture and align all sister chromatid pairs at a metaphase plate, the spindle checkpoint produces a delay in the onset of anaphase. If this delay is bypassed by reducing checkpoint function, anaphase starts prematurely, and daughter cells may receive unequal complements of chromosomes. Such genomic instability can result in lethality and in tumorigenesis (Hartwell and Kastan, 1994;Basu et al., 1999).Originally identified and characterized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, seven spindle assembly checkpoint genes (MAD1, MAD2, MAD3, BUB1, BUB2, BUB3, and MPS1) are known to function at kinetochores to inhibit anaphase onset, or to mediate mitotic exit in the presence of spindle abnormalities (Hoyt et al., 1991;Li and Murray, 1991). Mutations in these genes reduce or eliminate the cell cycle delays that normally occur after treatment with microtubule depolymerizing drugs (Wang and Burke, 1995;Pangilinan and Spencer, 1996). Bub1 and Bub3 form a protein kinase complex that, in concert with Mps1, functions at kinetochores upstream of Mad1 and Mad2 (Roberts et al., 1994;H...
Polarization of the one-cell C. elegans embryo establishes the animal's anterior-posterior (a-p) axis. We have identified reduction-of-function anaphase-promoting complex (APC) mutations that eliminate a-p polarity. We also demonstrate that the APC activator cdc20 is required for polarity. The APC excludes PAR-3 from the posterior cortex, allowing PAR-2 to accumulate there. The APC is also required for tight cortical association and posterior movement of the paternal pronucleus and its associated centrosome. Depletion of the protease separin, a downstream target of the APC, causes similar pronuclear and a-p polarity defects. We propose that the APC/separin pathway promotes close association of the centrosome with the cortex, which in turn excludes PAR-3 from the posterior pole early in a-p axis formation.
To study essential maternal gene requirements in the early C. elegans embryo, we have screened for temperature-sensitive, embryonic lethal mutations in an effort to bypass essential zygotic requirements for such genes during larval and adult germline development. With conditional alleles, multiple essential requirements can be examined by shifting at different times from the permissive temperature of 15°C to the restrictive temperature of 26°C. Here we describe 24 conditional mutations that affect 13 different loci and report the identity of the gene mutations responsible for the conditional lethality in 22 of the mutants. All but four are mis-sense mutations, with two mutations affecting splice sites, another creating an in-frame deletion, and one creating a premature stop codon. Almost all of the mis-sense mutations affect residues conserved in orthologs, and thus may be useful for engineering conditional mutations in other organisms. We find that 62% of the mutants display additional phenotypes when shifted to the restrictive temperature as L1 larvae, in addition to causing embryonic lethality after L4 upshifts. Remarkably, we also found that 13 out of the 24 mutations appear to be fast-acting, making them particularly useful for careful dissection of multiple essential requirements. Our findings highlight the value of C. elegans for identifying useful temperature-sensitive mutations in essential genes, and provide new insights into the requirements for some of the affected loci.
In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, sperm entry into the oocyte triggers the completion of meiosis and the establishment of the embryonic anteroposterior (AP) axis. How the early embryo makes the transition from a meiotic to a mitotic zygote and coordinates cell cycle changes with axis formation remains unclear. We have discovered roles for the C. elegans puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase PAM-1 in both cell cycle progression and AP axis formation, further implicating proteolytic regulation in these processes. pam-1 mutant embryos exhibit a delay in exit from meiosis: thus, this peptidase is required for progression to mitotic interphase. In addition, the centrosomes associated with the sperm pronucleus fail to closely associate with the posterior cortex in pam-1 mutants,and the AP axis is not specified. The meiotic exit and polarity defects are separable, as inactivation of the B-type cyclin CYB-3 in pam-1mutants rescues the meiotic exit delay but not the polarity defects. Thus PAM-1 may regulate CYB-3 during meiotic exit but presumably targets other protein(s) to regulate polarity. We also show that the pam-1 gene is expressed both maternally and paternally, providing additional evidence that sperm-donated gene products have important roles during early embryogenesis in C. elegans. The degradation of proteins through ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis has been previously shown to regulate the cell cycle and AP axis formation in the C. elegans zygote. Our analysis of PAM-1 requirements shows that a puromycin-sensitive aminopeptidase is also required for proteolytic regulation of the oocyte to embryo transition.
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