Articles

The functional diversity of Aurora kinases: a comprehensive review

Aurora kinases are serine/threonine kinases essential for the onset and progression of mitosis. Aurora members share a similar protein structure and kinase activity, but exhibit distinct cellular and subcellul...

Authors: Estelle Willems, Matthias Dedobbeleer, Marina Digregorio, Arnaud Lombard, Paul Noel Lumapat and Bernard Rogister

Measuring DNA content in live cells by fluorescence microscopy

Live-cell fluorescence microscopy (LCFM) is a powerful tool used to investigate cellular dynamics in real time. However, the capacity to simultaneously measure DNA content in cells being tracked over time rema...

Authors: Cecil J. Gomes, Michael W. Harman, Sara M. Centuori, Charles W. Wolgemuth and Jesse D. Martinez

IMP/GTP balance modulates cytoophidium assembly and IMPDH activity

Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), the rate-limiting enzyme in de novo GTP biosynthesis, plays an important role in cell metabolism and proliferation. It has been demonstrated that IMPDH can aggregat...

Authors: Gerson Dierley Keppeke, Chia Chun Chang, Min Peng, Li-Yu Chen, Wei-Cheng Lin, Li-Mei Pai, Luis Eduardo Coelho Andrade, Li-Ying Sung and Ji-Long Liu

Eg5 orchestrates porcine oocyte maturational progression by maintaining meiotic organelle arrangement

Kinesin superfamily proteins are microtubule-based molecular motors essential for the intracellular transport of various cargos, including organelles, proteins, and RNAs. However, their exact roles during mamm...

Authors: Yan Xie, Minghui Cheng, Shan Lu, Qilong Yuan, Dongyu Yang, Ying Chen, Chen Pan, Yurong Qiu and Bo Xiong

Protein arginine methylation: an emerging regulator of the cell cycle

Protein arginine methylation is a common post-translational modification where a methyl group is added onto arginine residues of a protein to alter detection by its binding partners or regulate its activity. I...

Authors: Anita E. Raposo and Sabine C. Piller

Subunits of human condensins are potential therapeutic targets for cancers

The main role of condensins is to regulate chromosome condensation and segregation during cell cycles. Recently, it has been suggested in the literatures that subunits of condensin I and condensin II are invol...

Authors: Hong-Zhen Wang, Si-Han Yang, Gui-Ying Li and Xudong Cao

Phasing in on the cell cycle

Just like all matter, proteins can also switch between gas, liquid and solid phases. Protein phase transition has claimed the spotlight in recent years as a novel way of how cells compartmentalize and regulate...

Authors: Steven Boeynaems, Peter Tompa and Ludo Van Den Bosch

The emerging roles of CDK12 in tumorigenesis

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are key regulators of both cell cycle progression and transcription. Since dysregulation of CDKs is a frequently occurring event driving tumorigenesis, CDKs have been tested ext...

Authors: Hana Paculová and Jiří Kohoutek

Proteins associated with the doubling time of the NCI-60 cancer cell lines

The varied nature of human cancers is recapitulated, at least to some extent, in the diverse NCI-60 panel of human cancer cell lines. Here, I used a basic, continuous variable of proliferating cells, their dou...

Authors: Michael Polymenis

Erratum to: Rpl22 is required for IME1 mRNA translation and meiotic induction in S. cerevisiae

Authors: Stephen K. Kim and Randy Strich

Erratum to: Electrostatic forces drive poleward chromosome motions at kinetochores

Authors: L. John Gagliardi and Daniel H. Shain

Multiple molecular interactions redundantly contribute to RB-mediated cell cycle control

The G1-S phase transition is critical to maintaining proliferative control and preventing carcinogenesis. The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor is a key regulator of this step in the cell cycle.

Authors: Michael J. Thwaites, Matthew J. Cecchini, Srikanth Talluri, Daniel T. Passos, Jasmyne Carnevale and Frederick A. Dick

Systematic epistatic mapping of cellular processes

Genetic screens have identified many novel components of various biological processes, such as components required for cell cycle and cell division. While forward genetic screens typically generate unstructure...

Authors: Maximilian Billmann and Michael Boutros

The Irr1/Scc3 protein implicated in chromosome segregation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has a dual nuclear-cytoplasmic localization

Correct chromosome segregation depends on the sister chromatid cohesion complex. The essential, evolutionarily conserved regulatory protein Irr1/Scc3, is responsible for the complex loading onto DNA and for it...

Authors: Piotr Kowalec, Jan Fronk and Anna Kurlandzka

Electrostatic forces drive poleward chromosome motions at kinetochores

Recent experiments regarding Ndc80/Hec1 in force generation at kinetochores for chromosome motions have prompted speculation about possible models for interactions between positively charged molecules at kinet...

Authors: L. John Gagliardi and Daniel H. Shain

Erratum to: The loop-less ^tmCdc34 E2 mutant defective polyubiquitination in vitro and in vivo supports yeast growth in a manner dependent on Ubp14 and Cka2

Authors: Agnieszka Lass, Ross Cocklin, Kenneth M. Scaglione, Michael Skowyra, Sergey Korolev, Mark Goebl and Dorota Skowyra

The CSL proteins, versatile transcription factors and context dependent corepressors of the notch signaling pathway

The Notch signaling pathway is a reiteratively used cell to cell communication pathway that triggers pleiotropic effects. The correct regulation of the pathway permits the efficient regulation of genes involve...

Authors: Humberto Contreras-Cornejo, Germán Saucedo-Correa, Javier Oviedo-Boyso, Juan José Valdez-Alarcón, Víctor Manuel Baizabal-Aguirre, Marcos Cajero-Juárez and Alejandro Bravo-Patiño

Interferon gamma-induced apoptosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is connected to indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase via mitochondrial and ER stress-associated pathways

Tumor response to immunotherapy is the consequence of a concerted crosstalk between cytokines and effector cells. Interferon gamma (IFNγ) is one of the common cytokines coordinating tumor immune response and t...

Authors: Siraj M. El Jamal, Erin B. Taylor, Zakaria Y. Abd Elmageed, Abdulhadi A. Alamodi, Denis Selimovic, Abdulaziz Alkhateeb, Matthias Hannig, Sofie Y. Hassan, Simeon Santourlidis, Paul L. Friedlander, Youssef Haikel, Srinivasan Vijaykumar, Emad Kandil and Mohamed Hassan

Rpl22 is required for IME1 mRNA translation and meiotic induction in S. cerevisiae

The transition from mitotic cell division to meiotic development in S. cerevisiae requires induction of a transient transcription program that is initiated by Ime1-dependent destruction of the repressor Ume6. Alt...

Authors: Stephen J. Kim and Randy Strich

Insights into APC/C: from cellular function to diseases and therapeutics

Anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is a multifunctional ubiquitin-protein ligase that targets different substrates for ubiquitylation and therefore regulates a variety of cellular processes such as c...

Authors: Zhuan Zhou, Mingjing He, Anil A. Shah and Yong Wan

Cullin-RING ligases in regulation of autophagy

Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs), the largest E3 ubiquitin ligase family, promote ubiquitination and degradation of various cellular key regulators involved in a broad array of physiological and pathological process...

Authors: Danrui Cui, Xiufang Xiong and Yongchao Zhao

The structure and regulation of Cullin 2 based E3 ubiquitin ligases and their biological functions

Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes play a central role in targeting cellular proteins for ubiquitination-dependent protein turnover through 26S proteasome. Cullin-2 is a member of the Cullin family, and...

Authors: Weijia Cai and Haifeng Yang

The T-box transcription factor TBX3 drives proliferation by direct repression of the p21^WAF1 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor

TBX3, a member of the T-box family of transcription factors, is essential in development and has emerged as an important player in the oncogenic process. TBX3 is overexpressed in several cancers and has been s...

Authors: Tarryn Willmer, Shannagh Hare, Jade Peres and Sharon Prince

Cul3-KLHL20 ubiquitin ligase: physiological functions, stress responses, and disease implications

Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases are the largest Ubiquitin ligase family in eukaryotes and are multi-protein complexes. In these complexes, the Cullin protein serves as a scaffold to connect two functional module...

Authors: Hsin-Yi Chen, Chin-Chih Liu and Ruey-Hwa Chen

New insights into posttranslational modifications of Hippo pathway in carcinogenesis and therapeutics

PTMs (posttranslational modifications) such as ubiquitylation, sumoylation, acetylation and protein methylation are pivotal modifiers that determine the activation, deactivation or subcellular localization of ...

Authors: Mingjing He, Zhuan Zhou, Anil A. Shah, Yang Hong, Qianming Chen and Yong Wan

Mitochondria-cytoskeleton associations in mammalian cytokinesis

The role of the cytoskeleton in regulating mitochondrial distribution in dividing mammalian cells is poorly understood. We previously demonstrated that mitochondria are transported to the cleavage furrow durin...

Authors: E. J. Lawrence, E. Boucher and C. A. Mandato

C1D family proteins in coordinating RNA processing, chromosome condensation and DNA damage response

Research on the involvement of C1D and its yeast homologues Rrp47 (S. cerevisiae) and Cti1 (S. pombe) in DNA damage repair and RNA processing has remained mutually exclusive, with most studies predominantly conce...

Authors: Rebecca A. Jackson, Jocelyn Shumei Wu and Ee Sin Chen

The role of cullin 5-containing ubiquitin ligases

The suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) box consists of the BC box and the cullin 5 (Cul5) box, which interact with Elongin BC and Cul5, respectively. SOCS box-containing proteins have ubiquitin ligase act...

Authors: Fumihiko Okumura, Akiko Joo-Okumura, Kunio Nakatsukasa and Takumi Kamura

Curcumin and tumor immune-editing: resurrecting the immune system

Curcumin has long been known to posses medicinal properties and recent scientific studies have shown its efficacy in treating cancer. Curcumin is now considered to be a promising anti-cancer agent and studies ...

Authors: Sayantan Bose, Abir Kumar Panda, Shravanti Mukherjee and Gaurisankar Sa

COP9-Signalosome deneddylase activity is enhanced by simultaneous neddylation: insights into the regulation of an enzymatic protein complex

Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) are regulated by neddylation, which is a post translation modification of the Cullin family proteins. Neddylation of Cul1 activates the ligase through some means of biochem...

Authors: Gil Bornstein and Chagai Grossman

Sumo and the cellular stress response

The ubiquitin family member Sumo has important functions in many cellular processes including DNA repair, transcription and cell division. Numerous studies have shown that Sumo is essential for maintaining cel...

Authors: Jorrit M. Enserink

Aneuploidy and chromosomal instability in cancer: a jackpot to chaos

Genomic instability (GIN) is a hallmark of cancer cells that facilitates the acquisition of mutations conferring aggressive or drug-resistant phenotypes during cancer evolution. Chromosomal instability (CIN) i...

Authors: Maybelline Giam and Giulia Rancati

Mutations in the PCNA-binding site of CDKN1C inhibit cell proliferation by impairing the entry into S phase

CDKN1C (also known as P57 ^kip2 ) is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that functions as a negative regulator of cell proliferation through G1 ...

Authors: Kleiton S Borges, Valerie A Arboleda and Eric Vilain

Cyclin E2 is the predominant E-cyclin associated with NPAT in breast cancer cells

The cyclin E oncogene activates CDK2 to drive cells from G₁ to S phase of the cell cycle to commence DNA replication. It coordinates essential cellular functions with the cell cycle including histone biogenesis, ...

Authors: Samuel Rogers, Brian S Gloss, Christine S Lee, Claudio Marcelo Sergio, Marcel E Dinger, Elizabeth A Musgrove, Andrew Burgess and Catherine Elizabeth Caldon

Differential distribution of HP1 proteins after trichostatin a treatment influences chromosomal stability in HCT116 and WI-38 cells

Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) is important in the establishment, propagation, and maintenance of constitutive heterochromatin, especially at the pericentromeric region. HP1 might participate in recruiting an...

Authors: Rodrigo González-Barrios, Ernesto Soto-Reyes, Ricardo Quiroz-Baez, Eunice Fabián-Morales, José Díaz-Chávez, Victor del Castillo, Julia Mendoza, Alejandro López-Saavedra, Clementina Castro and Luis A Herrera

Polar electrostatic forces drive poleward chromosome motions

Recent experiments revealing nanoscale electrostatic force generation at kinetochores for chromosome motions have prompted models for interactions between positively charged molecules in kinetochores and negat...

Authors: Lucian John Gagliardi and Daniel H Shain

The subunits of the S-phase checkpoint complex Mrc1/Tof1/Csm3: dynamics and interdependence

The S-phase checkpoint aims to prevent cells from generation of extensive single-stranded DNA that predisposes to genome instability. The S. cerevisiae complex Tof1/Csm3/Mrc1 acts to restrain the replicative MCM ...

Authors: Sonya Dimitrova Uzunova, Alexander Stefanov Zarkov, Anna Marianova Ivanova, Stoyno Stefanov Stoynov and Marina Nedelcheva Nedelcheva-Veleva

Differential expression of centrosome regulators in Her2+ breast cancer cells versus non-tumorigenic MCF10A cells

Centrosome amplification (CA) amongst particular breast cancer subtypes (Her2+ subtype) is associated with genomic instability and aggressive tumor phenotypes. However, changes in signaling pathways associated...

Authors: Mi-Young Lee, Mihaela Marina, Jamie L King and Harold I Saavedra

Smurf2 E3 ubiquitin ligase modulates proliferation and invasiveness of breast cancer cells in a CNKSR2 dependent manner

Smurf2 is a member of the HECT family of E3 ubiquitin ligases that play important roles in determining the competence of cells to respond to TGF- β/BMP signaling pathway. However, besides TGF-β/BMP pathway, Sm...

Authors: Diana David, Sankar Jagadeeshan, Ramkumar Hariharan, Asha Sivakumari Nair and Radhakrishna Madhavan Pillai

The DNA repair component Metnase regulates Chk1 stability

Chk1 both arrests replication forks and enhances repair of DNA damage by phosphorylation of downstream effectors. Metnase (also termed SETMAR) is a SET histone methylase and transposase nuclease protein that p...

Authors: Elizabeth A Williamson, Yuehan Wu, Sudha Singh, Michael Byrne, Justin Wray, Suk-Hee Lee, Jac A Nickoloff and Robert Hromas

The COP9 signalosome subunit 6 (CSN6): a potential oncogene

CSN6 is one subunit of the constitutive photomorphogenesis 9 (COP9) signalosome (CSN), which is an evolutionarily conserved multiprotein complex found in plants and animals and originally described as a repres...

Authors: Shang-Nuan Zhang, Dong-Sheng Pei and Jun-Nian Zheng

Defining a new vision for the retinoblastoma gene: report from the 3rd International Rb Meeting

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (Rb) pathway is mutated in most, if not all human tumors. In the G0/G1 phase, Rb and its family members p107 and p130 inhibit the E2F family of transcription factors. In res...

Authors: Seth M Rubin and Julien Sage

Cohesin loading factor Nipbl localizes to chromosome axes during mammalian meiotic prophase

Sister chromatid cohesion mediated by the cohesin complex is essential for accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Loading of cohesin onto chromosomes is dependent on another protein comple...

Authors: Katarzyna Kuleszewicz, Xiangwei Fu and Nobuaki R Kudo

A pool of peptides extracted from wheat bud chromatin inhibits tumor cell growth by causing defective DNA synthesis

We previously reported that a pool of low molecular weight peptides can be extracted by alkali treatment of DNA preparations obtained from prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells after intensive deproteinization. Thi...

Authors: Loretta Mancinelli, Teresa Secca, Paula M De Angelis, Francesco Mancini, Matteo Marchesini, Cristiano Marinelli, Lanfranco Barberini and Francesco Grignani

Silencing CDK4 radiosensitizes breast cancer cells by promoting apoptosis

The discovery of molecular markers associated with various breast cancer subtypes has greatly improved the treatment and outcome of breast cancer patients. Unfortunately, breast cancer cells acquire resistance...

Authors: Katie R Hagen, Xiangbin Zeng, Mi-Young Lee, Shannon Tucker Kahn, Mary Kathryn Harrison Pitner, Sandra S Zaky, Yuan Liu, Ruth M O’Regan, Xingming Deng and Harold I Saavedra

Mutually dependent degradation of Ama1p and Cdc20p terminates APC/C ubiquitin ligase activity at the completion of meiotic development in yeast

The execution of meiotic nuclear divisions in S. cerevisiae is regulated by protein degradation mediated by the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) ubiquitin ligase. The correct timing of APC/C activity ...

Authors: Grace S Tan, Rebecca Lewandowski, Michael J Mallory, Randy Strich and Katrina F Cooper

To divide or not to divide: revisiting liver regeneration

The liver has a remarkable capacity to regenerate. Even with surgical removal (partial hepatectomy) of 70% of liver mass, the remnant tissue grows to recover the original mass and functions. Liver regeneration...

Authors: Yuichiro Miyaoka and Atsushi Miyajima

Cell cycle-dependent localization of CHK2 at centrosomes during mitosis

Centrosomes function primarily as microtubule-organizing centres and play a crucial role during mitosis by organizing the bipolar spindle. In addition to this function, centrosomes act as reaction centers wher...

Authors: Guillaume Chouinard, Isabelle Clément, Julie Lafontaine, Francis Rodier and Estelle Schmitt

A 2D/3D image analysis system to track fluorescently labeled structures in rod-shaped cells: application to measure spindle pole asymmetry during mitosis

The yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is frequently used as a model for studying the cell cycle. The cells are rod-shaped and divide by medial fission. The process of cell division, or cytokinesis, is controlled by...

Authors: Daniel Schmitter, Paulina Wachowicz, Daniel Sage, Anastasia Chasapi, Ioannis Xenarios, Viesturs Simanis and Michael Unser

Proteolysis of Xenopus Cip-type CDK inhibitor, p16^Xic2, is regulated by PCNA binding and CDK2 phosphorylation

Cell division is positively regulated by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) partnered with cyclins and negatively regulated by CDK inhibitors. In the frog, Xenopus laevis, three types of CDK inhibitors have been des...

Authors: Xi-Ning Zhu, Dong Hyun Kim, Horng-Ru Lin, Varija N Budhavarapu, Herbert B Rosenbaum, Paul R Mueller and P Renee Yew