title: Plo1 phosphorylates Dam1 to promote chromosome bi-orientation in fission yeast.
abstract: The fungal-specific heterodecameric outer kinetochore DASH complex facilitates the interaction of kinetochores with spindle microtubules. In budding yeast, where kinetochores bind a single microtubule, the DASH complex is essential, and phosphorylation of Dam1 by the Aurora kinase homologue, Ipl1, causes detachment of kinetochores from spindle microtubules. We demonstrate that in the distantly related fission yeast, where the DASH complex is not essential for viability and kinetochores bind multiple microtubules, Dam1 is instead phosphorylated on serine 143 by the Polo kinase homologue, Plo1, during prometaphase and metaphase. This phosphorylation site is conserved in most fungal Dam1 proteins, including budding yeast Dam1. We show that Dam1 phosphorylation by Plo1 is dispensable for DASH assembly and chromosome retrieval but instead aids tension-dependent chromosome bi-orientation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biomedical Cell Biology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. g.j.buttrick@warwick.ac.uk
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Buttrick
authors.forename: Theresa C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Lancaster
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Meadows
authors.forename: Jonathan B A
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Millar
mesh_terms: D064127:Aurora Kinases; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C116003:DAM1 protein, S cerevisiae; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases