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Query: EC:3.6.4.4 (kinesin)
5,033 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Assembly of the mitotic spindle is an interesting example of morphogenesis at the cellular level. The temporal control of this major event involves the periodic activation of the cyclin-cdc2 kinase complex. In this review, I report recent results that have shed some light on the temporal regulation of centrosome duplication, microtubule nucleation and microtubule dynamics. Reorganization of highly dynamic microtubules into a bipolar spindle probably requires kinesin and dynein-like motors and their role is discussed in an hypothetical model that may be applicable to all mitotic spindles.
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PMID:Mitotic spindle morphogenesis in animal cells. 184 43

In eukaryotes, mitosis requires the activation of cdc2 kinase via association with cyclin B and dephosphorylation of the threonine 14 and tyrosine 15 residues. It is known that in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a homologous kinase, Cdc28, mediates the progression through M phase, but it is not clear what specific mitotic function its activation by the dephosphorylation of an equivalent tyrosine (Tyr-19) serves. We report here that cells expressing cdc28-E19 (in which Tyr-19 is replaced by glutamic acid) perform Start-related functions, complete DNA synthesis, and exhibit high levels of Clb2-associated kinase activity but are unable to form bipolar spindles. The failure of these cells to form mitotic spindles is due to their inability to segregate duplicated spindle pole bodies (SPBs), a phenotype strikingly similar to that exhibited by a previously reported mutant defective in both kinesin-like motor proteins Cin8 and Kip1. We also find that the overexpression of SWE1, the budding-yeast homolog of wee1, also leads to a failure to segregate SPBs. These results imply that dephosphorylation of Tyr-19 is required for the segregation of SPBs. The requirement of Tyr-19 dephosphorylation for spindle assembly is also observed under conditions in which spindle formation is independent of mitosis, suggesting that the involvement of Cdc28/Clb kinase in SPB separation is direct. On the basis of these results, we propose that one of the roles of Tyr-19 dephosphorylation is to promote SPB separation.
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PMID:Spindle pole body separation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires dephosphorylation of the tyrosine 19 residue of Cdc28. 888 67

Plant B-type cyclin genes are expressed late in the G2 and M phases of the cell cycle. Previously, we showed that the promoter of a Catharanthus roseus B-type cyclin, CYM, could direct M phase-specific transcription of a beta-glucuronidase reporter gene in synchronously dividing BY2 tobacco cells. In this study, we determined the regulatory elements contained within the CYM promoter by using a luciferase reporter gene. Mutational analysis showed that a 9-bp element is essential for M phase-specific promoter activity in synchronized BY2 cells. The CYM promoter contains three other sequences similar to this element. A gain-of-function assay demonstrated that when fused to a heterologous promoter, these elements are sufficient for M phase-specific expression; therefore, we named these elements M-specific activators (MSAs). We found MSA-like sequences in B-type cyclin promoters from tobacco, soybean, and Arabidopsis as well as in the promoters of two M phase-specific genes, NACK1 and NACK2, which encode tobacco kinesin-like proteins. Thus, MSA may be a common cis-acting promoter element that controls M phase-specific expression of cell cycle-related genes in plants.
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PMID:A novel cis-acting element in promoters of plant B-type cyclin genes activates M phase-specific transcription. 950 Nov 8

A number of lines of evidence point to a predominance of cytokinesis defects in spermatogenesis in hypomorphic alleles of the Drosophila polo gene. In the pre-meiotic mitoses, cytokinesis defects result in cysts of primary spermatocytes with reduced numbers of cells that can contain multiple centrosomes. These are connected by a correspondingly reduced number of ring canals, structures formed by the stabilization of the cleavage furrow. The earliest defects during the meiotic divisions are a failure to form the correct mid-zone and mid-body structures at telophase. This is accompanied by a failure to correctly localize the Pavarotti kinesin- like protein that functions in cytokinesis, and of the septin Peanut and of actin to be incorporated into a contractile ring. In spite of these defects, cyclin B is degraded and the cells exit M phase. The resulting spermatids are frequently binuclear or tetranuclear, in which case they develop either two or four axonemes, respectively. A significant proportion of spermatids in which cytokinesis has failed may also show the segregation defects previously ascribed to polo1 mutants. We discuss these findings in respect to conserved functions for the Polo-like kinases in regulating progression through M phase, including the earliest events of cytokinesis.
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PMID:Drosophila polo kinase is required for cytokinesis. 981 88

Previous genetic and biochemical studies have led to the hypothesis that the essential mitotic bipolar kinesin, KLP61F, cross-links and slides microtubules (MTs) during spindle assembly and function. Here, we have tested this hypothesis by immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy (immunoEM). We show that Drosophila embryonic spindles at metaphase and anaphase contain abundant bundles of MTs running between the spindle poles. These interpolar MT bundles are parallel near the poles and antiparallel in the midzone. We have observed that KLP61F motors, phosphorylated at a cdk1/cyclin B consensus domain within the BimC box (BCB), localize along the length of these interpolar MT bundles, being concentrated in the midzone region. Nonphosphorylated KLP61F motors, in contrast, are excluded from the spindle and display a cytoplasmic localization. Immunoelectron microscopy further suggested that phospho-KLP61F motors form cross-links between MTs within interpolar MT bundles. These bipolar KLP61F MT-MT cross-links should be capable of organizing parallel MTs into bundles within half spindles and sliding antiparallel MTs apart in the spindle midzone. Thus we propose that bipolar kinesin motors and MTs interact by a "sliding filament mechanism" during the formation and function of the mitotic spindle.
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PMID:The bipolar kinesin, KLP61F, cross-links microtubules within interpolar microtubule bundles of Drosophila embryonic mitotic spindles. 988 49

The Golgi complex of mammalian cells is composed of cisternal stacks that function in processing and sorting of membrane and luminal proteins during transport from the site of synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum to lysosomes, secretory vacuoles, and the cell surface. Even though exceptions are found, the Golgi stacks are usually arranged as an interconnected network in the region around the centrosome, the major organizing center for cytoplasmic microtubules. A close relation thus exists between Golgi elements and microtubules (especially the stable subpopulation enriched in detyrosinated and acetylated tubulin). After drug-induced disruption of microtubules, the Golgi stacks are disconnected from each other, partly broken up, dispersed in the cytoplasm, and redistributed to endoplasmic reticulum exit sites. Despite this, intracellular protein traffic is only moderately disturbed. Following removal of the drugs, scattered Golgi elements move along reassembling microtubules back to the centrosomal region and reunite into a continuous system. The microtubule-dependent motor proteins cytoplasmic dynein and kinesin bind to Golgi membranes and have been implicated in vesicular transport to and from the Golgi complex. Microinjection of dynein heavy chain antibodies causes dispersal of the Golgi complex, and the Golgi complex of cells lacking cytoplasmic dynein is likewise spread throughout the cytoplasm. In a similar manner, kinesin antibodies have been found to inhibit Golgi-to-endoplasmic reticulum transport in brefeldin A-treated cells and scattering of Golgi elements along remaining microtubules in cells exposed to a low concentration of nocodazole. The molecular mechanisms in the interaction between microtubules and membranes are, however, incompletely understood. During mitosis, the Golgi complex is extensively reorganized in order to ensure an equal partitioning of this single-copy organelle between the daughter cells. Mitosis-promoting factor, a complex of cdc2 kinase and cyclin B, is a key regulator of this and other events in the induction of cell division. Cytoplasmic microtubules depolymerize in prophase and as a result thereof, the Golgi stacks become smaller, disengage from each other, and take up a perinuclear distribution. The mitotic spindle is thereafter put together, aligns the chromosomes in the metaphase plate, and eventually pulls the sister chromatids apart in anaphase. In parallel, the Golgi stacks are broken down into clusters of vesicles and tubules and movement of protein along the exocytic and endocytic pathways is inhibited. Using a cell-free system, it has been established that the fragmentation of the Golgi stacks is due to a continued budding of transport vesicles and a concomitant inhibition of the fusion of the vesicles with their target membranes. In telophase and after cytokinesis, a Golgi complex made up of interconnected cisternal stacks is recreated in each daughter cell and intracellular protein traffic is resumed. This restoration of a normal interphase morphology and function is dependent on reassembly of a radiating array of cytoplasmic microtubules along which vesicles can be carried and on reactivation of the machinery for membrane fusion.
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PMID:Role of microtubules in the organization of the Golgi complex. 992 41

Cyclins control the transition between the phases of the eukaryotic cell cycle as regulatory subunits of the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Phase-specific activation of the CDK is in part regulated by phase-specific expression of their cyclin component. In most eukaryotic cells including higher plant, B-type cyclin genes are expressed specifically at G2/M phase during the cell cycle. Promoters from yeast, plant and animal B-type cyclin genes are all activated in a cell cycle-regulated manner. In yeast, a transcription factor, Mcm1, in cooperation with an uncloned factor SFF, regulates the cell cycle-dependent promoter activation of mitotic B-type cyclin genes, CLB1 and CLB2. Activity of the human cyclin B1 promoter is regulated by a complex mechanism involving multiple cis-acting elements, none of which are sufficient for G2/M-specific promoter activation. In contrast, plants employ a simple mechanism for cell cycle-regulated promoter activation of B-type cyclin genes. Plant B-type cyclin gene promoters contain a common cis-acting element, called the MSA element, which is necessary and sufficient for the phase-specific promoter activation. MSA-like sequences are also found in the promoters of G2/M-specific genes encoding kinesin-like proteins, suggesting that a defined set of G2/M-specific genes are co-regulated by a common MSA-mediated mechanism in plants. Thus, the molecular mechanisms regulating B-type cyclin gene expression are evolutionarily divergent, and the MSA-mediated mechanism seems to be specific to plants. The consensus sequence of the MSA element resembles the binding sites of animal Myb transcription factors. A set of our data suggest the possibility that plant Myb may have unexpected roles in G2/M by inducing B-type cyclin genes, together with other cell cycle-related genes in plants.
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PMID:Factors controlling cyclin B expression. 1108 69

Several members of the kinesin superfamily are known to play a prominent role in the motor-driven transport processes that occur in mitotic cells. Here we describe a new mitotic human kinesin-like protein, RB6K (Rabkinesin 6), distantly related to MKLP-1. Expression of RB6K is regulated during the cell cycle at both the mRNA and protein level and, similar to cyclin B, shows a maximum during M phase. Isolation of the RB6K promoter allowed identification of a CDE-CHR element and promoter activity was shown to be maximal during M phase. Immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies raised against RB6K showed a weak signal in interphase Golgi but a 10-fold higher signal in prophase nuclei. During M phase, the newly synthesized RB6K does not colocalise with Rab6. In later stages of mitosis RB6K localized to the spindle midzone and appeared on the midbodies during cytokinesis. The functional significance of this localization during M phase was revealed by antibody microinjection studies which resulted exclusively in binucleate cells, showing a complete failure of cytokinesis. These results substantiate a crucial role for RB6K in late anaphase B and/or cytokinesis, clearly distinct from the role of MKLP-1.
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PMID:The human kinesin-like protein RB6K is under tight cell cycle control and is essential for cytokinesis. 1128 71

We and others recently demonstrated that Drosophila melanogaster embryos arrest development and embryonic cells cease dividing when they are deprived of O2. To further characterize the behavior of these embryos in response to O2 deprivation and to define the O2-sensitive checkpoints in the cell cycle, embryos undergoing nuclear cycles 3-13 were subjected to O2 deprivation and examined by confocal microscopy under control, hypoxic, and reoxygenation conditions. In vivo, real-time analysis of embryos carrying green fluorescent protein-kinesin demonstrated that cells arrest at two major points of the cell cycle, either at the interphase (before DNA duplication) or at metaphase, depending on the cell cycle phase at which O2 deprivation was induced. Immunoblot analysis of embryos whose cell divisions are synchronized by inducible String (cdc25 homolog) demonstrated that cyclin B was degraded during low O2 conditions in interphase-arrested embryos but not in those arrested in metaphase. Embryos resumed cell cycle activity within ~20 min of reoxygenation, with very little apparent change in cell cycle kinetics. We conclude that there are specific points during the embryonic cell cycle that are sensitive to the O2 level in D. melanogaster. Given the fact that O2 deprivation also influences the growth and development of other species, we suggest that similar hypoxia-sensitive cell cycle checkpoints may also exist in mammalian cells.
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PMID:Cell cycle progression and cell division are sensitive to hypoxia in Drosophila melanogaster embryos. 1129 81

The bipolar mitotic spindle is responsible for segregating sister chromatids at anaphase. Microtubule motor proteins generate spindle bipolarity and enable the spindle to perform mechanical work. A major change in spindle architecture occurs at anaphase onset when central spindle assembly begins. This structure regulates the initiation of cytokinesis and is essential for its completion. Central spindle assembly requires the centralspindlin complex composed of the Caenorhabditis elegans ZEN-4 (mammalian orthologue MKLP1) kinesin-like protein and the Rho family GAP CYK-4 (MgcRacGAP). Here we describe a regulatory mechanism that controls the timing of central spindle assembly. The mitotic kinase Cdk1/cyclin B phosphorylates the motor domain of ZEN-4 on a conserved site within a basic amino-terminal extension characteristic of the MKLP1 subfamily. Phosphorylation by Cdk1 diminishes the motor activity of ZEN-4 by reducing its affinity for microtubules. Preventing Cdk1 phosphorylation of ZEN-4/MKLP1 causes enhanced metaphase spindle localization and defects in chromosome segregation. Thus, phosphoregulation of the motor domain of MKLP1 kinesin ensures that central spindle assembly occurs at the appropriate time in the cell cycle and maintains genomic stability.
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PMID:Cell cycle regulation of central spindle assembly. 1531 3


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