Components of the Hippo pathway cooperate with Nek2 kinase to regulate centrosome disjunction

BR Mardin, C Lange, JE Baxter, T Hardy, SR Scholz… - Nature cell …, 2010 - nature.com
BR Mardin, C Lange, JE Baxter, T Hardy, SR Scholz, AM Fry, E Schiebel
Nature cell biology, 2010nature.com
During interphase, centrosomes are held together by a proteinaceous linker that connects
the proximal ends of the mother and daughter centriole. This linker is disassembled at the
onset of mitosis in a process known as centrosome disjunction, thereby facilitating
centrosome separation and bipolar spindle formation. The NIMA (never in mitosis A)-related
kinase Nek2A is implicated in disconnecting the centrosomes through disjoining the linker
proteins C-Nap1 and rootletin. However, the mechanisms controlling centrosome disjunction …
Abstract
During interphase, centrosomes are held together by a proteinaceous linker that connects the proximal ends of the mother and daughter centriole. This linker is disassembled at the onset of mitosis in a process known as centrosome disjunction, thereby facilitating centrosome separation and bipolar spindle formation. The NIMA (never in mitosis A)-related kinase Nek2A is implicated in disconnecting the centrosomes through disjoining the linker proteins C-Nap1 and rootletin. However, the mechanisms controlling centrosome disjunction remain poorly understood. Here, we report that two Hippo pathway components, the mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 2 (Mst2) and the scaffold protein Salvador (hSav1), directly interact with Nek2A and regulate its ability to localize to centrosomes, and phosphorylate C-Nap1 and rootletin. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the hSav1–Mst2–Nek2A centrosome disjunction pathway becomes essential for bipolar spindle formation on partial inhibition of the kinesin-5 Eg5. We propose that hSav1–Mst2–Nek2A and Eg5 have distinct, but complementary functions, in centrosome disjunction.
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