Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The EMBO Journal logoLink to The EMBO Journal
. 1986 Nov;5(11):2973–2979. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04594.x

Isolation and characterization of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cutmutants that block nuclear division but not cytokinesis

Tatsuya Hirano 1, Shin-ichi Funahashi 1, Tadashi Uemura 1, Mitsuhiro Yanagida 1
PMCID: PMC1167249  PMID: 16453724

Abstract

By examining cytological phenotypes of 587 temperature-sensitive mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we obtained 18 mutants which cause cell division in the absence of nuclear division. By genetic analyses, these novel nuclear division arrest mutants can be classified into nine complementation groups (designated cut1 – cut9). The cytological phenotype of cut mutants is similar but not identical to that of DNA topoisomerase II mutants (top2). The cut1+ gene was cloned by transformation and shown to complement cut2 as well as cut1, indicating a functional relationship between the two genes. The cut genes are required for nuclear division, but their mutant phenotypes differ from most of the previously identified mutants which block nuclear division and also the subsequent cytokinesis. Fluorescence microscopy indicates that the mitotic chromosomes formed in cut mutant cells are abnormal and fail to separate properly. We suggest that cut mutations, like top2, block mitotic chromosome formation and concomitantly nuclear division, but that cytokinesis proceeds independently of the defects in nuclear division, demonstrating uncoordinated mitotic pathways. A novel mutant nuc1 is also described which shows a cytological phenotype similar to the double mutant of DNA topoisomerases I and II but contains normal levels of both DNA topoisomerase activities.

Keywords: cut mutants, cytokinesis, nuclear division, DNA topoisomerase II, Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Full text

PDF
2973

Images in this article

2974Fig. 2.
on p.2974
2976Fig. 4.
on p.2976
2976Fig. 5.
on p.2976
2977Fig. 7.
on p.2977
2977Fig. 8.
on p.2977
2977Fig. 9.
on p.2977

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beach D., Piper M., Nurse P. Construction of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene bank in a yeast bacterial shuttle vector and its use to isolate genes by complementation. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;187(2):326–329. doi: 10.1007/BF00331138. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Botstein D., Falco S. C., Stewart S. E., Brennan M., Scherer S., Stinchcomb D. T., Struhl K., Davis R. W. Sterile host yeasts (SHY): a eukaryotic system of biological containment for recombinant DNA experiments. Gene. 1979 Dec;8(1):17–24. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(79)90004-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DiNardo S., Voelkel K., Sternglanz R. DNA topoisomerase II mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: topoisomerase II is required for segregation of daughter molecules at the termination of DNA replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 May;81(9):2616–2620. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.9.2616. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Earnshaw W. C., Halligan B., Cooke C. A., Heck M. M., Liu L. F. Topoisomerase II is a structural component of mitotic chromosome scaffolds. J Cell Biol. 1985 May;100(5):1706–1715. doi: 10.1083/jcb.100.5.1706. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fantes P. Epistatic gene interactions in the control of division in fission yeast. Nature. 1979 May 31;279(5712):428–430. doi: 10.1038/279428a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hiraoka Y., Toda T., Yanagida M. The NDA3 gene of fission yeast encodes beta-tubulin: a cold-sensitive nda3 mutation reversibly blocks spindle formation and chromosome movement in mitosis. Cell. 1984 Dec;39(2 Pt 1):349–358. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90013-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ito H., Fukuda Y., Murata K., Kimura A. Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):163–168. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.163-168.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kilmartin J. V., Adams A. E. Structural rearrangements of tubulin and actin during the cell cycle of the yeast Saccharomyces. J Cell Biol. 1984 Mar;98(3):922–933. doi: 10.1083/jcb.98.3.922. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Nasmyth K., Nurse P. Cell division cycle mutants altered in DNA replication and mitosis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Mol Gen Genet. 1981;182(1):119–124. doi: 10.1007/BF00422777. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nurse P., Thuriaux P., Nasmyth K. Genetic control of the cell division cycle in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Mol Gen Genet. 1976 Jul 23;146(2):167–178. doi: 10.1007/BF00268085. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Nurse P., Thuriaux P. Regulatory genes controlling mitosis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Genetics. 1980 Nov;96(3):627–637. doi: 10.1093/genetics/96.3.627. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Thuriaux P., Nurse P., Carter B. Mutants altered in the control co-ordinating cell division with cell growth in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Mol Gen Genet. 1978 May 3;161(2):215–220. doi: 10.1007/BF00274190. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Toda T., Umesono K., Hirata A., Yanagida M. Cold-sensitive nuclear division arrest mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. J Mol Biol. 1983 Aug 5;168(2):251–270. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80017-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Toda T., Yamamoto M., Yanagida M. Sequential alterations in the nuclear chromatin region during mitosis of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe: video fluorescence microscopy of synchronously growing wild-type and cold-sensitive cdc mutants by using a DNA-binding fluorescent probe. J Cell Sci. 1981 Dec;52:271–287. doi: 10.1242/jcs.52.1.271. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Uemura T., Tanagida M. Mitotic spindle pulls but fails to separate chromosomes in type II DNA topoisomerase mutants: uncoordinated mitosis. EMBO J. 1986 May;5(5):1003–1010. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04315.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Uemura T., Yanagida M. Isolation of type I and II DNA topoisomerase mutants from fission yeast: single and double mutants show different phenotypes in cell growth and chromatin organization. EMBO J. 1984 Aug;3(8):1737–1744. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb02040.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The EMBO Journal are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES