title: A role for mitogen-activated protein kinase in the spindle assembly checkpoint in XTC cells.
abstract: The spindle assembly checkpoint prevents cells whose spindles are defective or chromosomes are misaligned from initiating anaphase and leaving mitosis. Studies of Xenopus egg extracts have implicated the Erk2 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAP kinase) in this checkpoint. Other studies have suggested that MAP kinases might be important for normal mitotic progression. Here we have investigated whether MAP kinase function is required for mitotic progression or the spindle assembly checkpoint in vivo in Xenopus tadpole cells (XTC). We determined that Erk1 and/or Erk2 are present in the mitotic spindle during prometaphase and metaphase, consistent with the idea that MAP kinase might regulate or monitor the status of the spindle. Next, we microinjected purified recombinant XCL100, a Xenopus MAP kinase phosphatase, into XTC cells in various stages of mitosis to interfere with MAP kinase activation. We found that mitotic progression was unaffected by the phosphatase. However, XCL100 rendered the cells unable to remain arrested in mitosis after treatment with nocodazole. Cells injected with phosphatase at prometaphase or metaphase exited mitosis in the presence of nocodazole-the chromosomes decondensed and the nuclear envelope re-formed-whereas cells injected with buffer or a catalytically inactive XCL100 mutant protein remained arrested in mitosis. Coinjection of constitutively active MAP kinase kinase-1, which opposes XCL100's effects on MAP kinase, antagonized the effects of XCL100. Since the only known targets of MAP kinase kinase-1 are Erk1 and Erk2, these findings argue that MAP kinase function is required for the spindle assembly checkpoint in XTC cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305-5332, USA.
authors.forename: X M
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ferrell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; D008677:Metaphase; D008845:Microinjections; D008870:Microtubules / Q000187:drug effects; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D054639:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatases; D008938:Mitosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D015739:Nocodazole / Q000494:pharmacology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000494:pharmacology; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000494:pharmacology; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000494:pharmacology; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000737:chemistry*; D014981:Xenopus; D029867:Xenopus Proteins
chemical_list: D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D048369:MAP Kinase Kinase 1; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; C096688:DUSP1 protein, Xenopus; D054639:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatases; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases; D015739:Nocodazole