Cyclin E is a G 1 cyclin essential for S-phase entry and has a profound role in oncogenesis. Previously this laboratory found that cyclin E is overexpressed and present in lower-molecular-weight (LMW) isoforms in breast cancer cells and tumor tissues compared to normal cells and tissues. Such alteration of cyclin E is linked to poor patient outcome. Here we report that the LMW forms of cyclin E are hyperactive biochemically and they can more readily induce G 1 -to-S progression in transfected normal cells than the full-length form of the protein can. Through biochemical and mutational analyses we have identified two proteolytically sensitive sites in the amino terminus of human cyclin E that are cleaved to generate the LMW isoforms found in tumor cells. Not only are the LMW forms of cyclin E functional, as they phosphorylate substrates such as histone H1 and GSTRb, but also their activities are higher than the full-length cyclin E. These nuclear localized LMW forms of cyclin E are also biologically functional, as their overexpression in normal cells increases the ability of these cells to enter S and G 2 /M. Lastly, we show that cyclin E is selectively cleaved in vitro by the elastase class of serine proteases to generate LMW forms similar to those observed in tumor cells. These studies suggest that the defective entry into and exit from S phase by tumor cells is in part due to the proteolytic processing of cyclin E, which generates hyperactive LMW isoforms whose activities have been modified from that of the full-length protein.In the past decade, new findings in the fields of cell biology and molecular genetics of cancer have revealed a deregulation of the cell cycle as a critical event for the onset of tumorigenesis. Progression through the cell cycle, the sequence of events between two cell divisions, is governed by the actions of positive and negative regulators in the eukaryotic cell. The mammalian cell cycle is positively regulated by heterodimeric complexes of stable cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and unstable regulatory cyclin subunits (1, 51). Mitogenic stimuli result in the phosphorylation and thereby activation of cyclin-CDK complexes by CDK-activating kinase (17,22,35). The activated cyclin-CDK complexes in turn phosphorylate substrates such as the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) throughout the cell cycle (16,36,51).The connection between cyclins and cancer has been substantiated with G 1 -type cyclins (25-27, 55). Cyclin E, a G 1 cyclin which forms complexes with CDK2, is essential for Sphase entry (41, 47) and has a profound role in oncogenesis (29,31). In dividing cells, the expression of cyclin E increases to a maximum at the G 1 /S transition, with a peak expression level near the restriction point (13, 34). When coupled to CDK2, the active kinase follows cyclin D-CDK4 in progressively phosphorylating pRb, releasing it from members of the E2F family (15). As E2F is released it activates a number of S-phase genes, including cyclin E and E2F-1 (18,40). This state of readiness to enter S phase requi...

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We detail here how "free" centrosomes, lacking associated chromosomes, behave during mitosis in PtK(2) homokaryons stably expressing GFP-alpha-tubulin. As free centrosomes separate during prometaphase, their associated astral microtubules (Mts) interact to form a spindle-shaped array that is enriched for cytoplasmic dynein and Eg5. Over the next 30 min, these arrays become progressively depleted of Mts until the two centrosomes are linked by a single bundle, containing 10-20 Mts, that persists for > 60 min. The overlapping astral Mts within this bundle are loosely organized, and their plus ends terminate near its midzone, which is enriched for an ill-defined matrix material. At this time, the distance between the centrosomes is not defined by external forces because these organelles remain stationary when the bundle connecting them is severed by laser microsurgery. However, since the centrosomes move towards one another in response to monastrol treatment, the kinesin-like motor protein Eg5 is involved. From these results, we conclude that separating asters interact during prometaphase of mitosis to form a spindle-shaped Mt array, but that in the absence of chromosomes this array is unstable. An analysis of the existing data suggests that the stabilization of spindle Mts during mitosis in vertebrates does not involve the chromatin (i.e., the RCC1/RanGTP pathway), but instead some other chromosomal component, e.g., kinetochores.

We describe the purification of microtubule proteins from Xenopus egg extracts by temperature-dependent assembly and disassembly in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide and identify a number of presumptive microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). One of these proteins has a molecular weight of 230 kDa and is immunologically related to HeLa MAP4. We show that this MAP is heat stable and phosphorylated, and that it promotes elongation of microtubules from axonemes.

During the interphase to metaphase transition, microtubules are destabilized by a cdc2 kinase-dependent phosphorylation event. This destabilization is due to a dramatic increase in the rate at which each growing microtubule starts to shrink (catastrophe rate). In principle, this could be brought about by lowering the affinity of stabilizing MAPs for the microtubule wall, by activating a factor that would actively increase the catastrophe rate or by an alteration of both parameters. Here we examine the stabilizing effect of bovine brain MAP2 on microtubules assembled in interphase Xenopus egg extracts. We show that this MAP strongly stabilizes microtubules assembled in the extracts against nocodazole-induced depolymerization. However, it does not protect them from the cdc2 kinase-induced shortening and destabilization. Moreover, the steady-state length of centrosome-nucleated microtubules in cdc2-treated extracts containing MAP2 is similar to that found in extracts lacking exogenous MAP2. We also show that although exogenous MAP2 is phosphorylated by cdc2 kinase in the extract, this is not the cause of microtubule destabilization. These results indicate that increased microtubule dynamics during mitosis is due to the activation of a factor that can function independently of the presence of active, stabilizing factors.