Polo-like Kinase 1 Licenses CENP-A Deposition at Centromeres

To ensure the stable transmission of the genome during vertebrate cell division, the mitotic spindle must attach to a single locus on each chromosome, termed the centromere. The fundamental requirement for faithful centromere inheritance is the controlled deposition of the centromere-specifying hist...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McKinley, Kara Lavidge, Cheeseman, Iain M
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Elsevier 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/106982
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6283-9168
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3829-5612
Description
Summary:To ensure the stable transmission of the genome during vertebrate cell division, the mitotic spindle must attach to a single locus on each chromosome, termed the centromere. The fundamental requirement for faithful centromere inheritance is the controlled deposition of the centromere-specifying histone, CENP-A. However, the regulatory mechanisms that ensure the precise control of CENP-A deposition have proven elusive. Here, we identify polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) as a centromere-localized regulator required to initiate CENP-A deposition in human cells. We demonstrate that faithful CENP-A deposition requires integrated signals from Plk1 and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK), with Plk1 promoting the localization of the key CENP-A deposition factor, the Mis18 complex, and CDK inhibiting Mis18 complex assembly. By bypassing these regulated steps, we uncoupled CENP-A deposition from cell-cycle progression, resulting in mitotic defects. Thus, CENP-A deposition is controlled by a two-step regulatory paradigm comprised of Plk1 and CDK that is crucial for genomic integrity.