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Originally published as MBoC in Press, 10.1091/mbc.E08-10-1049 on July 1, 2009

Vol. 20, Issue 16, 3671-3679, August 15, 2009

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The Molecular Function of the Yeast Polo-like Kinase Cdc5 in Cdc14 Release during Early Anaphase

Fengshan Liang, Fengzhi Jin, Hong Liu*, and Yanchang Wang

Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306

Submitted October 22, 2008; Revised May 27, 2009; Accepted June 19, 2009
Monitoring Editor: Fred Chang


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cdc14 is sequestered within the nucleolus before anaphase entry through its association with Net1/Cfi1, a nucleolar protein. Protein phosphatase PP2ACdc55 dephosphorylates Net1 and keeps it as a hypophosphorylated form before anaphase. Activation of the Cdc fourteen early anaphase release (FEAR) pathway after anaphase entry induces a brief Cdc14 release from the nucleolus. Some of the components in the FEAR pathway, including Esp1, Slk19, and Spo12, inactivate PP2ACdc55, allowing the phosphorylation of Net1 by mitotic cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) (Clb2-Cdk1). However, the function of another FEAR component, the Polo-like kinase Cdc5, remains elusive. Here, we show evidence indicating that Cdc5 promotes Cdc14 release primarily by stimulating the degradation of Swe1, the inhibitory kinase for mitotic Cdk. First, we found that deletion of SWE1 partially suppresses the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants. In contrast, high levels of Swe1 impair FEAR activation. We also demonstrated that the accumulation of Swe1 in cdc5 mutants is responsible for the decreased Net1 phosphorylation. Therefore, we conclude that the down-regulation of Swe1 protein levels by Cdc5 promotes FEAR activation by relieving the inhibition on Clb2-Cdk1, the kinase for Net1 protein.


    INTRODUCTION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Mitotic exit pathways are responsible for the inactivation of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) after chromosome segregation and a conserved phosphatase, Cdc14, plays a critical role in mitotic exit (Visintin et al., 1998Go). The activity of Cdc14 is regulated through its subcellular localization. During most of the cell cycle stages, Cdc14 is sequestered within the nucleolus to prevent the dephosphorylation of its substrates. Two signaling cascades, Cdc fourteen early anaphase release (FEAR) and mitotic exit network (MEN), are responsible for the regulation of Cdc14 release. The FEAR network promotes a brief Cdc14 release from the nucleolus during early anaphase, and this pathway consists of Polo-like kinase Cdc5, separase Esp1, Slk19, and Spo12 (Stegmeier et al., 2002Go). Our recent work indicates that FEAR-induced Cdc14 release during early anaphase is responsible for the reversal of protein phosphorylation imposed by S phase cyclin-associated Cdk1 (Clb5-Cdk1), which facilitates spindle stabilization and elongation (Jin et al., 2008Go). The activation of the MEN further promotes the dissociation of Cdc14 from its inhibitor during late anaphase and telophase (Shou et al., 1999Go; Visintin et al., 1999Go). In addition, the phosphorylation of Cdc14 by Dbf2, a component of MEN, promotes transfer of Cdc14 to cytoplasm (Mohl et al., 2009Go). Released Cdc14 inactivates mitotic Cdk by destroying mitotic cyclin Clb2 and stabilizing the Cdk inhibitor Sic1 (Visintin et al., 1998Go). The complete inactivation of Cdk makes it possible for the assembly of the prereplication complex for the next round of cell cycle (Noton and Diffley, 2000Go).

FEAR-dependent Cdc14 release may be facilitated by the phosphorylation of Net1 that binds to and sequesters Cdc14 within the nucleolus (Shou et al., 1999Go; Visintin et al., 1999Go; Azzam et al., 2004Go). Before anaphase entry, the presence of phosphatase PP2ACdc55 keeps Net1 in its hypophosphorylated form, which prevents the dissociation of Cdc14 from the nucleolar localized Net1 (Queralt et al., 2006Go; Wang and Ng, 2006Go; Yellman and Burke, 2006Go). After anaphase entry, separase Esp1 inactivates PP2ACdc55 with the assistance of Slk19, Spo12, Zds1, and Zds2 (Queralt et al., 2006Go; Queralt and Uhlmann, 2008Go), allowing the phosphorylation of Net1 by Clb2-Cdk1 (Azzam et al., 2004Go). This modification may favor Cdc14 release.

Cdc5 is a conserved Polo-like kinase that plays multiple roles during the cell cycle. As a component of the MEN, Cdc5 promotes mitotic exit by phosphorylating Bfa1, the negative regulator of the MEN (Hu et al., 2001Go). It is interesting that Cdc5 also functions in the FEAR pathway because Cdc5 is required for the release of Cdc14 from the nucleolus during early anaphase (Stegmeier et al., 2002Go). Some evidence indicates that the direct phosphorylation of Cdc14 by Cdc5 may facilitate Cdc14 release (Visintin et al., 2003Go; Rahal and Amon, 2008Go). Also, the degradation of Cdc5 protein is essential for the return of Cdc14 to the nucleolus after exit mitosis (Visintin et al., 2008Go). Previous data indicate that Cdc5 kinase phosphorylates Swe1 to promote its degradation (Park et al., 2004Go; Sakchaisri et al., 2004Go; Asano et al., 2005Go). In vitro and in vivo evidence indicates that Swe1 inhibits mitotic cyclin-associated Cdk activity by phosphorylating Cdk1 at tyrosine 19 (Booher et al., 1993Go). Recent evidence suggests that Swe1 has little effect on S phase cyclin-associated Cdk1 (Hu and Aparicio, 2005Go; Liu and Wang, 2006Go; Keaton et al., 2007Go). In this study, we present evidence indicating that Cdc5 regulates the FEAR network in part by inducing Swe1 degradation, which enables Clb2-Cdk1 to phosphorylate Net1.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Yeast Strains and Growth
The yeast strains used in this study are listed in Table 1. All strains are isogenic to Y300, a W303 derivative. Yeast cells were grown in yeast extract, peptone, dextrose (YPD) medium unless indicated. To arrest cells in G1 phase, 5 µg/ml {alpha}-factor was added into cell cultures (YPD, pH 3.9). After 2 h of incubation, the G1-arrested cells were washed twice with water and then released into YPD medium to start cell cycle.


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Table 1. Strains used in this study

 
Cytological Techniques
Cells with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged proteins were fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde for 5 min at room temperature and then washed twice with 1x phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer and resuspended in PBS buffer for fluorescence microscopy (Carl Zeiss MicroImaging, Thornwood, NY). To examine the localization of Cdc14, CDC14-5GFP strains were used and cells without obvious nucleolar GFP signal were counted as released Cdc14. The spindle morphology was monitored by using TUB1-mCherry strains, and we counted the spindles with one end within the daughter cell as anaphase spindles. For 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, cells were fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde for 5 min at room temperature and then resuspended in 100% MeOH at –20°C for 30 min. The cells were incubated in DAPI solution (final concentration, 2.5 µg/ml) for 1 min at room temperature. At least 100 cells were counted for each sample.

Protein Techniques
The pellets from 1.5 ml of cell cultures were resuspended in 200 µl of 0.1 N NaOH and incubated at room temperature for 5min. After centrifugation, the cells were resuspended in equal volume (30 µl) of double distilled H2O and SDS protein-loading buffer. The samples were then boiled for 5 min and resolved with 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Proteins were detected with enhanced chemiluminescence (PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, Boston, MA) after probing with anti-myc antibody (Covance Research Products, Princeton, NJ) and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA).


    RESULTS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
The FEAR Defects in cdc5 Mutants Depend Partially on Swe1 Accumulation
Different from other MEN temperature-sensitive mutants, cdc5-1 mutant cells do not show a transient Cdc14 release during early anaphase when grown at 37°C, suggesting that Cdc5 is also a component of FEAR pathway (Stegmeier et al., 2002Go). Previous studies have shown that Cdc5 phosphorylates Swe1 and promotes its degradation (Asano et al., 2005Go), and cdc5-2 mutant cells exhibit Swe1 degradation defects when incubated at 37°C (Liu and Wang, 2006Go). These observations raise the possibility that the failure of Swe1 degradation might contribute to the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutant cells. Because cdc5-1 mutants show FEAR defects, we first examined Swe1 degradation defects in this mutant. Compared with wild-type (WT) cells, cdc5-1 mutant cells exhibited persistent Swe1 protein levels when incubated at 37°C, but Swe1 protein degradation was not compromised in other MEN (cdc15-2) or FEAR (cdc15-2 spo12{Delta}) mutants (data not shown). Therefore, we believe that the Swe1 degradation defect is specific to cdc5 mutants but not to other FEAR or MEN mutant cells.

Given that Swe1 accumulates in both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutants, it is possible that the Swe1 accumulation in these mutants contributes to FEAR defects. To test this possibility, we compared cell cycle progression and Cdc14 release in cdc5-1 and cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} mutants incubated at 37°C. Very few cdc5-1 mutant cells exhibited Cdc14 release as reported previously (Stegmeier et al., 2002Go), but 26% of cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} double mutant cells showed released Cdc14 after G1 release for 100 min, similar to cdc15-2 mutant, where the FEAR, but not MEN, is active (Figure 1, A and B). We also compared the spindle elongation kinetics in these mutant cells, and the spindles with one end that has elongated into daughter cells are counted as anaphase spindle. Delayed spindle elongation was noticed in cdc5-1 mutants at 80 and 100 min after G1 release compared with cdc15-2, consistent with the role of the FEAR pathway in spindle morphogenesis (Jin et al., 2008Go). The spindle elongation defect was partially suppressed by the deletion of SWE1 (Figure 1A). Similarly, we observed Cdc14 release defect in cdc5-2 mutant cells and deletion of SWE1 suppressed this defect (data not shown). These observations indicate that Swe1 accumulation contributes to the Cdc14 release defect in both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutants.


Figure 1
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Figure 1. swe1{Delta} deletion suppresses the Cdc14 release defect in cdc5 mutant. (A) Swe1 accumulation in cdc5-1 mutants compromises FEAR function. CDC14-5GFP TUB1-mCherry cells with indicated genotypes were arrested in G1 phase at 25°C and then released into 37°C YPD medium. The localization of Cdc14 and the spindle morphology was analyzed over time by florescence microscopy. Shown here is the budding index and the percentage of cells with elongated spindle or released Cdc14. The spindle with one end that has elongated into daughter cells is counted as anaphase spindle. Cells with released Cdc14 are those without a clear nucleolar localization of Cdc14. (B) The localization of Cdc14 and spindle morphology in cells with indicated genotypes after G1 release for 120 min. The white arrow indicates the cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} cell with released Cdc14.

 
Net1 is a substrate of both Clb2-Cdk1 and phosphatase PP2ACdc55; its phosphorylation may facilitate Cdc14 release. Mutation of the Cdk phosphorylation sites in Net1 shows FEAR defects, as Net1 phosphorylation site mutants are compromised in the release of Cdc14 from the nucleolus during early anaphase (Azzam et al., 2004Go; Queralt et al., 2006Go). Because Swe1 exhibits specific inhibition on Clb2-Cdk1 (Booher et al., 1993Go), and Cdc5 promotes Swe1 degradation, we reason that Cdc5 induces Net1 phosphorylation by alleviating Swe1-imposed inhibition on Clb2-Cdk1. If that is the case, the impediment of Net1 phosphorylation by Cdk1 should abolish the transient Cdc14 release in cdc5 swe1{Delta} double mutants. Consistent with our prediction, net1-6Cdk mutants, wherein the six Cdk1 phosphorylation sites are mutated to alanine, largely suppressed Cdc14 release in cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} mutants (Figure 1A). However, a few cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} net1-6Cdk cells still showed released Cdc14 when grown at the restrictive temperature. One possible explanation is that net1-6Cdk mutant is not a mutant allele that loses FEAR function completely (Azzam et al., 2004Go) or that some mechanism other than Net1 phosphorylation also controls Cdc14 release during early anaphase.

Swe1 Degradation Is Required for Efficient rDNA Separation
FEAR-dependent Cdc14 release is important for efficient rDNA separation (D'Amours et al., 2004Go; Sullivan et al., 2004Go). Our data indicate that Cdc5-dependent Swe1 degradation promotes Cdc14 release during early anaphase, and we speculate that the failure of Swe1 degradation would lead to the rDNA separation defects in cdc5 mutants. To test this speculation, rDNA separation in cdc15-2, cdc5-1, and cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} mutants with a tetO array integrated adjacent to the rDNA locus (rDNA-GFP) was analyzed (D'Amours et al., 2004Go). After G1 release for 2 h at 37°C, 74% of cdc15-2 cells showed separated rDNA-GFP dots, but only 26% of cdc5-1 mutant cells exhibited rDNA separation. In contrast, 47% of cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} double mutant cells exhibited separated rDNA (Figure 2, A and B), indicating that swe1{Delta} deletion could partially suppress the rDNA separation defect in cdc5-1 mutants. Similar results were obtained using cdc5-2 and cdc5-2 swe1{Delta} cells (data not shown). To further confirm the suppression of the rDNA separation defect in cdc5-1 mutants by swe1{Delta}, we also analyzed the distribution of Net1-GFP, which localizes within the nucleolus throughout the cell cycle (Shou et al., 1999Go; Visintin et al., 1999Go; Machin et al., 2006Go). swe1{Delta} deletion suppressed the Net1 separation defects in both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutants (data not shown), suggesting that the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants are attributable to the failure of Swe1 protein degradation.


Figure 2
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Figure 2. The partial suppression of the nucleolar separation defect in cdc5-1 mutants by swe1{Delta} deletion. (A) Deletion of SWE1 partially suppresses the delayed rDNA separation in cdc5-1 mutant cells. Cells with GFP-marked rDNA and TUB1-mCherry were arrested in G1 phase at 25°C and then released into 37°C YPD medium. The spindle elongation and rDNA separation kinetics are shown. (B) The spindle morphology and localization of rDNA in some representative cells after 2 h release. The arrow indicates the cdc5-1 mutant cell with a single rDNA-GFP dot.

 
Swe1 Accumulation Contributes to the Delay of FEAR-dependent Dephosphorylation of Clb5-Cdk1 Substrates
We have shown that an active FEAR pathway promotes the dephosphorylation of a Clb5-Cdk substrate, Sld2, during early anaphase and inactivation of both FEAR and MEN blocks Sld2 dephosphorylation (Jin et al., 2008Go). If the compromised FEAR function in cdc5 mutants is a result of Swe1 accumulation, we expect defective Sld2 dephosphorylation in cdc5 mutants and deletion of SWE1 should suppress this defect. Therefore, we compared the dephosphorylation kinetics of Sld2 in cdc5 and cdc5 swe1{Delta} mutants. G1-arrested WT, cdc15-2, cdc5-1, cdc5-1 swe1{Delta}, cdc5-2, and cdc5-2 swe1{Delta} mutants carrying SLD2-myc were released into YPD medium at 37°C. After G1 release for 40 min, Sld2 became phosphorylated in all the tested cells as indicated by the appearance of slow migrating bands. Although cdc15-2 cells showed Sld2 dephosphorylation after G1 release for 80 min, both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutant cells exhibited dramatically delayed Sld2 dephosphorylation, supporting the role of Cdc5 in both FEAR and MEN pathways. However, swe1{Delta} deletion alleviated this delay in both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutants, although the suppression is not complete (Figure 3B). Together, the defects in Cdc14 release, rDNA separation, and Sld2 dephosphorylation observed in cdc5 mutants can be partially suppressed by the deletion of SWE1, supporting the conclusion that Cdc5 kinase promotes FEAR function in part by stimulating Swe1 degradation.


Figure 3
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Figure 3. High levels of Swe1 protein result in delayed dephosphorylation of Sld2, a Clb5-Cdk1 substrate. SLD2-9myc cells with indicated genotypes were arrested in G1 phase at 25°C and then released into 37°C YPD medium. For WT and swe1{Delta} cells, {alpha}-factor was added into the medium at 40 min when the majority of cells were budded to block the initiation of next round of cell cycle. The cells were collected every 20 min for budding index and the preparation of protein samples. Sld2 protein modification is shown after Western blot analysis. The phosphorylation kinetics of Sld2 in WT, swe1{Delta}, cdc15-2 and cdc15-2 swe1{Delta} cells is shown in A. (B) Suppression of Sld2 dephosphorylation defects in cdc5 mutants by swe1{Delta}. The Sld2 phosphorylation status in cdc15-2 and cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} cells is shown in C.

 
Down-Regulation of Cdk1 Activity by Swe1 Is Responsible for the FEAR Defects in cdc5 Mutant Cells
Swe1 inhibits Clb2-Cdk1 activity by phosphorylating Y19 on Cdk1 (Cdc28) (Amon et al., 1992Go; Sorger and Murray, 1992Go; Booher et al., 1993Go). To test whether increased Cdk1 phosphorylation by Swe1 is responsible the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants, we compared Cdc14 release and rDNA separation in cdc5 single and cdc5 cdc28F19 double mutants, where the Swe1 phosphorylation site in Cdk1 is mutated. It was obvious that cdc28F19 mutation suppressed the defects of Cdc14 release and rDNA separation in cdc5-1 mutants, although the suppression is not complete (Figure 4, A and B), suggesting that the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants is due to the increased inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdk1 by Swe1 kinase.


Figure 4
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Figure 4. Down-regulation of Cdk1 is responsible for the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants. (A) cdc28F19 mutant suppresses the Cdc14 release defects in cdc5-1 mutants. CDC14-GFP TUB1-mCherry cells with the indicated genotypes were synchronized in G1 phase and then released into 37°C YPD medium. Budding index and the kinetics of spindle elongation and Cdc14 release are shown. (B) cdc28F19 mutant suppresses the rDNA separation defects in cdc5-1 mutants. G1-synchronized cells with GFP-marked rDNA were released into 37°C medium. Cells were collected at 20-min intervals to follow the kinetics of budding and rDNA separation.

 
The Separable FEAR and MEN Functions of Cdc5 Kinase
The identified substrates of Cdc5 kinase include Bfa1 and Swe1, and the phosphorylation of Bfa1 leads to the activation of the MEN (Hu et al., 2001Go). The localization of Cdc5 at the spindle pole bodies is essential for Bfa1 phosphorylation, whereas the bud-neck localization of Cdc5 is responsible for the phosphorylation of Swe1 (Park et al., 2004Go). cdc5 mutant cells are defective for both FEAR and MEN. If the FEAR defect in cdc5 is a result of Swe1 accumulation, the expression of CDC5 that specifically localized at the bud neck will suppress the defects of cdc5 mutants in FEAR but not in MEN. Therefore, we introduced a plasmid pKL2438 containing CDC5{Delta}C-CDC12 into cdc5-1 mutant. This Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 fusion protein has been shown to exclusively localize at the bud neck and is competent for Swe1 phosphorylation and degradation (Park et al., 2004Go). The introduction of this plasmid partially suppressed the Swe1 degradation defects in cdc5-1 mutants, but the transformants were still arrested as large-budded cells when incubated at 37°C, indicating the defective MEN (Figure 5A). The expression of Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 protein also caused Cdc14 release from the nucleolus in some cdc5-1 mutant cells, but the suppression by Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 was not as efficient as swe1{Delta} (Figure 5B). We reason that the slower Swe1 degradation kinetics in cdc5-1 mutant cells containing Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 contributes to the less efficient suppression of the FEAR defects in cdc5-1 mutants. Thus, the bud-neck localization of Cdc5 and the subsequent Swe1 phosphorylation and degradation are required for FEAR activation.


Figure 5
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Figure 5. Expression of bud-neck–localized Cdc5 suppresses the FEAR defect in cdc5 mutants. (A) Expression of Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 fusion protein that localizes exclusively at the bud neck partially suppresses the Swe1 degradation defects in cdc5-1 mutants. pKL2438 plasmid that expresses Cdc5{Delta}C-Cdc12 fusion protein were introduced into WT and cdc5-1 mutants containing SWE1-myc. The transformants were grown and arrested in G1 phase in LEU dropout medium and then released into 37°C YPD medium. Swe1 protein levels were determined after Western blotting with anti-myc antibody. (B) cdc5-1 cells containing pKL2438 plasmid show released Cdc14. CDC14-GFP TUB1-mCherry and cdc5-1 CDC14-GFP TUB1-mCherry cells containing either a vector or pKL2483 plasmid were synchronized in G1 phase and then released into 37°C YPD medium. The kinetics of spindle elongation and Cdc14 release are shown.

 
Swe1 Plays a Negative Role in FEAR-dependent Cdc14 Release
Because Clb2-Cdk1-dependent Net1 phosphorylation plays a positive role in Cdc14 release during early anaphase (Azzam et al., 2004Go), Swe1 overexpression is expected to block the FEAR-dependent Cdc14 release. Indeed, we found that overexpression of Swe1 blocked the Cdc14 release in WT cells but not in cdc28F19 mutant cells (data not shown), suggesting a negative role of Swe1 in Cdc14 release by inhibiting Clb2-Cdk1. However, we could not exclude the possibility that the failure of Cdc14 release in cells overexpressing SWE1 is a result of anaphase entry block. Hsl1 is required for the recruitment of Swe1 to the bud-neck and subsequent Swe1 degradation (Shulewitz et al., 1999Go; Asano et al., 2005Go). Although hsl1{Delta} mutant cells exhibit elevated Swe1 protein levels, the mutant cells are viable. To further define the negative role of Swe1 in FEAR-dependent Cdc14 release, we examined Cdc14 localization in cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} mutant cells. cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} and cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} swe1{Delta} cells with 5GFP-tagged Cdc14 were arrested in G1 phase at 25°C and then released into cell cycle at 37°C. After G1 release for 100 min, 22% cdc15-2 cells showed released Cdc14, indicating that FEAR pathway is active. In contrast, cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} mutant cells showed delayed and decreased Cdc14 release, but the defect was suppressed by introducing swe1{Delta} deletion (Figure 6A). The results suggest that high levels of Swe1 in cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} cells contribute to the Cdc14 release defects. We also examined the kinetics of Sld2 dephosphorylation in cdc15-2 and cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} cells incubated at 37°C. In cdc15-2 cells, Sld2 became dephosphorylated after G1 release for 80 min, whereas a delayed Sld2 dephosphorylation was observed in cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} cells (Figure 3C). Together, these observations demonstrate that low level of Swe1 protein is needed for Cdc14 release during early anaphase as well as the subsequent dephosphorylation of Clb5-Cdk1 substrates.


Figure 6
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Figure 6. Swe1 plays a negative role in FEAR-dependent Cdc14 release. (A) hsl1{Delta} deletion leads to Swe1-dependent delay in Cdc14 release in cdc15-2 mutant cells. Cells with Cdc14-5GFP and Tub1-mCherry were arrested in G1 phase at 25°C and then released into 37°C YPD medium to examine the localization of Cdc14. The budding index and the kinetics of spindle elongation and Cdc14 release are shown. (B) Deletion of HSL1 blocks the microcolony formation in cdc13-1 chk1{Delta} mutants due to high levels of Swe1 protein. G1-arrested cells with the indicated genotypes were spread onto prewarmed YPD plates and incubated at 37°C for 8 h. Microcolony formation was examined by microscopy. Shown here is the percentage of cells that are able to form microcolony (>4 cells). (C) hsl1{Delta} mutant cells show synthetic growth defects with MEN mutants. Saturated cell cultures with the indicated genotypes were 10-fold diluted, spotted onto YPD plates, and incubated at 25 and 30°C for 3 d.

 
Chk1, one of the DNA damage checkpoint components, controls mitotic exit by negatively regulating FEAR pathway. net1-6Cdk mutation, which is resistant to the phosphorylation by Clb2-Cdk1, is able to block the mitotic exit in chk1{Delta} mutants in the presence of DNA damage (Liang and Wang, 2007Go). If Swe1 plays a negative role in FEAR activation, high levels of Swe1 would block the mitotic exit in chk1{Delta} mutant cells with damaged DNA. To test this possibility, we examined the microcolony formation in chk1{Delta} and chk1{Delta} hsl1{Delta} mutants arrested with cdc13-1, which activates DNA damage checkpoint because of the unprotected telomeres when incubated at the restrictive temperature. Consistent with previous data, 61% of cdc13-1 chk1{Delta} cells formed microcolonies when incubated at 37°C for 8 h, indicating cells exit mitosis, but only 11% cdc13-1 chk1{Delta} hsl1{Delta} cells did, presumably due to the Swe1 degradation defects in hsl1{Delta}. Deletion of SWE1 allowed cdc13-1 chk1{Delta} hsl1{Delta} cells to regain the ability for microcolony formation (Figure 6B), confirming that high levels of Swe1 compromise the FEAR-dependent mitotic exit.

FEAR and MEN promote Cdc14 release from the nucleolus and deletion of LTE1, a MEN component, is synthetically lethal with FEAR mutants slk19{Delta} and spo12{Delta} (Stegmeier et al., 2002Go). To further determine the FEAR defects in hsl1{Delta} mutants, double mutants between hsl1{Delta} and MEN mutants, mob1-77, cdc15-2 and lte1{Delta}, were generated. When incubated at 30°C, hsl1{Delta} mob1-77 double mutants failed to grow, whereas mob1-77 single mutant cells grew well. Similarly, the growth of cdc15-2 hsl1{Delta} mutant cells at 30°C was not as well as each single mutant. Deletion of SWE1 suppressed the growth defects of the double mutants (Figure 6C). Also, hsl1{Delta} lte1{Delta} double mutants exhibited poor growth phenotype when incubated at 25°C (data not shown). All these observations support the notion that Swe1 plays a negative role in FEAR activation.

Swe1 Accumulation Is Responsible for the Decreased Net1 Phosphorylation in cdc5 Mutants
The phosphorylation of Net1 by Clb2-Cdk1 promotes FEAR activation (Azzam et al., 2004Go; Queralt and Uhlmann, 2008Go). Given that Swe1 negatively regulates Clb2-Cdk1 and that cdc5 mutants exhibit failure in Swe1 degradation, it is likely that the FEAR defect in cdc5 mutants is due to the inability of Net1 phosphorylation. To confirm this speculation, we examined the phosphorylation status of Net1 protein in synchronous cdc5-1 and cdc5-1 swe1{Delta} mutants incubated at 37°C. After G1 release for 80 min, both WT and cdc15-2 mutants showed slow migrating forms of Net1, presumably due to phosphorylation (Azzam et al., 2004Go; Queralt and Uhlmann, 2008Go). In contrast, only hypophosphorylated Net1 was observed in cdc5-1 mutant cells and deletion of SWE1 suppressed the Net1 phosphorylation defects in cdc5-1 mutants (Figure 7A). This is a strong indication that Cdc5 regulates Net1 phosphorylation through Swe1. In cdc15-2 mutant cells, we noticed persistent Net1 phosphorylation even after G1 release for 2 h, but fewer cdc15-2 mutant cells exhibited released Cdc14 after G1 release for 2 h (Figure 1A). This observation indicates that Net1 phosphorylation might be essential, but not sufficient, for Cdc14 release during early anaphase.


Figure 7
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Figure 7. Accumulation of Swe1 in cdc5 mutants causes compromised Net1 phosphorylation. (A) G1-synchronized NET1-myc cells with indicated genotypes were released into 37°C YPD medium. Cell samples were collected at 0, 80, and 120 min for protein preparation. The protein samples were resolved with 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to determine the phosphorylation status of Net1. The percentage of large-budded cells is shown at the bottom. (B) Model for the regulation of Cdc14 release by Cdc5 kinase and other FEAR components. Cdc5-dependent Swe1 degradation promotes the Net1 phosphorylation by Clb2-Cdk1, which may facilitate Cdc14 release.

 

    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
In budding yeast S. cerevisiae, the Polo-like kinase Cdc5 functions as a component of both FEAR and MEN pathways to promote Cdc14 release from the nucleolus. As a component of the MEN pathway, Cdc5 promotes Cdc14 release by phosphorylating Bfa1, the negative regulator of the MEN (Hu et al., 2001Go). We believe that Cdc5 executes its FEAR function in part by promoting Swe1 degradation on the basis of the following observations. First, we found that both cdc5-1 and cdc5-2 mutants exhibited Swe1 degradation defects. Deletion of SWE1 partially alleviated the defects in Cdc14 release and rDNA separation in cdc5 mutants. In contrast, hsl1{Delta} mutant strains, wherein Swe1 degradation is compromised, exhibited FEAR defects, as indicated by the delayed Cdc14 release and the synthetic growth defects with MEN mutants. More importantly, cdc5-1 mutants exhibited Swe1-dependent defect in Net1 phosphorylation.

Our evidence suggests that Swe1 acts as a negative regulator of FEAR. S phase-expressed Swe1 is likely to prevent the premature activation of Clb2-Cdk1, whereas the activity of Clb5-Cdk1 remains unaffected. Because we have shown that the activation of FEAR facilitates spindle stabilization and elongation (Jin et al., 2008Go), Swe1 accumulation in S phase cells could be an important mechanism to prevent mitotic activities when DNA replication is underway. Consistent with this speculation, we have demonstrated previously that the block of DNA replication stabilizes Swe1 (Liu and Wang, 2006Go). Surprisingly, no premature mitosis is observed in swe1{Delta} mutant cells when DNA synthesis is blocked (Amon et al., 1992Go; Sorger and Murray, 1992Go), indicating that other mechanisms might be present to prevent premature activation of Clb2-Cdk1. For example, the low transcription levels of CLB2 gene during S phase could avoid premature mitosis induced by Clb2-Cdk1.

Although swe1{Delta} deletion can suppress the FEAR defects in cdc5 mutants, the kinetics of rDNA separation and Sld2 dephosphorylation in cdc5 swe1{Delta} double mutant cells is a little slower than that in cdc15-2 mutants, indicating that additional defects in cdc5 mutants may also contribute to the failure of FEAR activation. Previous studies suggest that overexpression of Cdc5 leads to hyperphosphorylated Cdc14 and that this modification may play a positive role in Cdc14 release (Visintin et al., 2003Go). Recently, Cdc5 has been shown to interact with Cdc14 directly, but the significance of this interaction remains to be defined (Rahal and Amon, 2008Go). Thus, Cdc5 may regulate Cdc14 release in multiple ways and Cdc5-dependent Swe1 degradation could be one of the functions of Cdc5 in mitotic exit.

We and others have demonstrated that FEAR components Esp1, Slk19, and Spo12 promote FEAR function by inhibiting PP2ACdc55-dependent Net1 dephosphorylation (Queralt et al., 2006Go; Wang and Ng, 2006Go; Yellman and Burke, 2006Go). Unlike other FEAR components, the Polo-like kinase Cdc5 regulates Net1 phosphorylation through Swe1. Cdc5-induced Swe1 degradation enables the activation of mitotic cyclin-associated Cdk1, which phosphorylates Net1. Therefore, two different mechanisms control FEAR activation through the regulation of Net1 phosphorylation. The activation of Cdc5 kinase before metaphase results in the degradation of Swe1, which allows the activation of Clb2-Cdk1. However, the presence of the phosphatase PP2ACdc55 keeps Net1 protein from being phosphorylated by Clb2-Cdk1. On anaphase onset, the degradation of the anaphase inhibitor Pds1 frees the separase Esp1 that inactivates PP2ACdc55 and shifts the equilibrium toward Net1 phosphorylation. Recent works from the Amon laboratory indicate that Spo12 is also a substrate of Clb2-Cdk1 (Tomson et al., 2009Go), raising the possibility that Cdc5-dependent Swe1 degradation may also lead to Spo12 phosphorylation and further activate FEAR. In conclusion, both Cdc5-dependent Clb2-Cdk1 activation and Esp1-induced inactivation of PP2ACdc55 promote FEAR activation by stimulating the phosphorylation of Net1 (Figure 7B).

Mammalian cells express Cdc14A and Cdc14B, which are the functional homologues of budding yeast Cdc14 (Trinkle-Mulcahy and Lamond, 2006Go). Cdc14A is located at centrosomes, whereas Cdc14B resides in the nucleolus during interphase but not during mitosis (Bembenek and Yu, 2001Go; Kaiser et al., 2002Go). We found that S phase cyclin substrates, including Ase1, a spindle midzone component, are subjected to FEAR-dependent dephosphorylation after anaphase entry (Jin et al., 2008Go). PRC1, the mammalian homologue of Ase1, also becomes dephosphorylated during metaphase-to-anaphase transition, and this dephosphorylation is essential for the spindle midzone formation (Zhu et al., 2006Go), raising the possibility that the dephosphorylation of some Cdk substrates occurs after anaphase entry in mammalian cells. However, further experiments are needed to determine whether PRC1 is a substrate of Cdc14A or B. So far, there is no solid evidence indicating the presence of FEAR and MEN networks that regulate Cdc14 activity in mammalian cells. Much more research work is needed to determine whether mammalian cells dephosphorylate some Cdk substrates after anaphase entry through the activation of phosphatase Cdc14.


    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Drs. Lew (Duke University), Amon (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Lee (National Cancer Institute), Deshaies (California Institute of Technology), Luca (University of Pennsylvania), and Aragon (Medical Research Council) for yeast strains and plasmids. We also thank Daniel Richmond for reading through the manuscript. This work was supported by the Research Scholar grant RSG-08-104-010CCG from the American Cancer Society and a Multidisciplinary Grant from the Florida State University Council on Research and Creativity (to Y. W.).


    Footnotes
 
This article was published online ahead of print in MBC in Press (http://www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1091/mbc.E08-10-1049) on July 1, 2009.

* Present address: Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6001 Forest Park Rd., Dallas, TX 75390. Back

Address correspondence to: Yanchang Wang (yanchang.wang{at}med.fsu.edu).


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