title: Chromosome condensation by a human condensin complex in Xenopus egg extracts.
abstract: 13S condensin is a five-subunit protein complex that plays a central role in mitotic chromosome condensation. The condensin complex was originally identified and purified from Xenopus egg extracts and shown to have an ATP-dependent positive supercoiling activity in vitro. We report here the characterization of a human condensin complex purified from HeLa cell nuclear extracts. The human 13S complex has exactly the same composition as its Xenopus counterpart, being composed of two structural maintenance of chromosomes (human chromosome-associated polypeptide (hCAP)-C and hCAP-E) subunits and three non-structural maintenance of chromosomes (hCAP-D2/CNAP1, hCAP-G, and hCAP-H/BRRN) subunits. Human condensin purified from asynchronous HeLa cell cultures fails to reconfigure DNA structure in vitro. When phosphorylated by purified cdc2-cyclin B, however, it gains the ability to introduce positive supercoils into DNA in the presence of ATP and topoisomerase I. Strikingly, human condensin can induce chromosome condensation when added back into a Xenopus egg extract that has been immunodepleted of endogenous condensin. Thus, the structure and function of the condensin complex are highly conserved between Xenopus and humans, underscoring its fundamental importance in mitotic chromosome dynamics in eukaryotic cells.
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Cuvier
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirano
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D002474:Cell-Free System; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019926:Cyclin B / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010063:Ovum / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D021122:Protein Subunits; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D019926:Cyclin B; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D021122:Protein Subunits; C108312:condensin complexes; D016203:CDC2 Protein Kinase; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases