Cdc20 associates with the kinase aurora2/Aik

Cdc20 associates with the kinase aurora2/Aik

Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

Contributed by Joan V. Ruderman

Abstract

Cdc20/fizzy family proteins are involved in activation of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome, which catalyzes the ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of cell cycle regulatory proteins such as anaphase inhibitors and mitotic cyclins, leading to chromosome segregation and exit from mitosis. Previous work has shown that human Cdc20 (hCdc20/p55CDC) associates with one or more kinases. We report here that Cdc20-associated myelin basic protein kinase activity peaks sharply in early M phase (embryonic cells) or in G₂ phase (somatic cells). In HeLa cells, Cdc20 is associated with the kinase aurora2/Aik. Aurora2/Aik is a member of the aurora/Ipl1 family of kinases that, like Cdc20, previously has been shown to be localized at mitotic spindle poles and is involved in regulating chromosome segregation and maintaining genomic stability. The demonstration that Cdc20 is associated with aurora2/Aik suggests that some function of Cdc20 is carried out or regulated through its association with aurora2/Aik.

Footnotes

↵ * Present address: Division of Cell Biology, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, United Kingdom.
↵ † To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: ruderman{at}hms.harvard.edu.
Data deposition: The Spisula solidissima (surf clam) Cdc20 nucleotide sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank database (accession no. AF052575).
ABBREVIATIONS:

MBP,

myelin basic protein;

APC/C,

anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome;

GVBD,

germinal vesicle breakdown