New insights into the regulation of anaphase by mitotic cyclins in budding yeast

Abstract

Mitotic cyclins drive initiation and progression through mitosis. However, their role during progression remains poorly understood, due to their essential function in initiation of mitosis and redundant activities. The function of the principal mitotic cyclin Clb2, in S. cerevisiae, was investigated during progression through anaphase in diploid cells, after DNA damage and during normal growth using fixed and live cell fluorescence techniques. I find that during anaphase, absence of Clb2 affects chromosome movement and plays an important role in inhibiting kinetochore microtubules regrowth. In addition, absence of Clb2 leads to defects and collapse of spindle pole body separation. Most unexpectedly, new bipolar spindle forms and spindle re-forms. The intensity of the defects appears to correlate with strength of checkpoint activation and while during adaptation to DNA damage, these defects lead to important chromosome missegregation, during normal growth, defects are resolved rapidly. During recovery, intermediate phenotypes are observed. Alltogether, data reveal new and unexpected roles for mitotic cyclins during progression through mitosis: results indicate that mitotic cyclins play key role in growth suppression of kinetochore microtubules and suggest that new bipolar spindle formation might be actively inhibited by mitotic cyclins during anaphase. © 2011 Landes Bioscience.