Project description:The m6A modification regulates mRNA stability and translation. Here we show that transcriptomic m6A modification is dynamic and the m6A reader protein YTHDF2 promotes mRNA decay during the cell cycle. Depletion of YTHDF2 leads to the delay of mitotic entry due to overaccumulation of WEE1, a negative regulator of CDK1. We demonstrate that WEE1 transcripts contain m6A modification, which promotes their decay through the m6A reader YTHDF2. Moreover, we found that YTHDF2 protein stability is dependent on CDK1 activity. Thus, CDK1, YTHDF2, and WEE1 form a feedforward regulatory loop to promote mitotic entry. We further identified CUL1, CUL4A, DDB1, and SKP2 as components of E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes that mediate YTHDF2 proteolysis. Our study provides insights into how cell cycle mediators modulate transcriptomic m6A modification, which in turn regulates the cell cycle.
Project description:The G2 DNA damage checkpoint inhibits Cdc2 and mitotic entry through the dual regulation of Wee1 and Cdc25 by the Chk1 effector kinase. Up-regulation of Chk1 by mutation or overexpression bypasses the requirement for up-stream regulators or DNA damage to promote a G2 cell cycle arrest. We screened in fission yeast for mutations that rendered cells resistant to overexpressed Chk1. We identified a mutation in tra1, which encodes one of two homologs of TRRAP, an ATM/R-related pseudokinase that scaffolds several histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complexes. Inhibition of histone deacetylases reverts the resistance to overexpressed Chk1, suggesting this phenotype is due to a HAT activity, though expression of checkpoint and cell cycle genes is not greatly affected. Cells with mutant or deleted tra1 activate Chk1 normally and are checkpoint proficient. However, these cells are semi-wee even when overexpressing Chk1, and accumulate inactive Wee1 protein. The Cdr (changed division response) kinases Cdr1 and Cdr2 are negative regulators of Wee1, and while best characterized in the cellular response to limited nutrition, we show that they are required for the Tra1-dependent alterations to Wee1 function. This identifies Tra1 as another component controlling the timing of entry into mitosis via Cdc2 activation. Two and three independent microaaray experiments were done for wild type and the mutant (tra1-1) respectively.
Project description:The G2 DNA damage checkpoint inhibits Cdc2 and mitotic entry through the dual regulation of Wee1 and Cdc25 by the Chk1 effector kinase. Up-regulation of Chk1 by mutation or overexpression bypasses the requirement for up-stream regulators or DNA damage to promote a G2 cell cycle arrest. We screened in fission yeast for mutations that rendered cells resistant to overexpressed Chk1. We identified a mutation in tra1, which encodes one of two homologs of TRRAP, an ATM/R-related pseudokinase that scaffolds several histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complexes. Inhibition of histone deacetylases reverts the resistance to overexpressed Chk1, suggesting this phenotype is due to a HAT activity, though expression of checkpoint and cell cycle genes is not greatly affected. Cells with mutant or deleted tra1 activate Chk1 normally and are checkpoint proficient. However, these cells are semi-wee even when overexpressing Chk1, and accumulate inactive Wee1 protein. The Cdr (changed division response) kinases Cdr1 and Cdr2 are negative regulators of Wee1, and while best characterized in the cellular response to limited nutrition, we show that they are required for the Tra1-dependent alterations to Wee1 function. This identifies Tra1 as another component controlling the timing of entry into mitosis via Cdc2 activation.
Project description:The G1/S cell-cycle checkpoint is frequently dysregulated in cancer, leaving cancer cells particularly reliant on a functional G2/M checkpoint to prevent excessive DNA damage. Inhibiting regulators of the G2/M checkpoint can therefore drive cancer cells into premature mitosis, ultimately causing cell death by mitotic catastrophe. One such regulator is Wee1, a nuclear tyrosine kinase that delays mitotic entry by phosphorylating CDK1 at Tyr15. Previous drug development efforts targeting Wee1 resulted in the clinical-grade inhibitor, AZD1775. However, AZD1775 is burdened by dose- limiting adverse events, and has off-target PLK1 activity. In an attempt to overcome these limitations, we designed small molecule degraders of Wee1 by conjugating AZD1775 to the cereblon (CRBN)- binding ligand, pomalidomide, as informed by molecular docking. The resulting lead compound, ZNL- 02-096, degrades Wee1 while sparing PLK1, induces G2/M phase accumulation at up to 10-fold lower concentrations than AZD1775, and potently synergizes with Olaparib in ovarian cancer cell lines. We demonstrate that ZNL-02-096 has CRBN-dependent pharmacology that is distinct from the conventional catalytic inhibitor, AZD1775, which justifies further evaluation of selective Wee1 degraders.
Project description:Cell cycle progression into mitosis induce cellular rearrangements such as mitotic spindle formation, Golgi fragmentation, and nuclear envelope breakdown. Like certain retroviruses, nuclear delivery of HPV16 genomes is facilitated by these processes during entry into host cells by tethering of the viral DNA to mitotic chromosomes through the minor capsid protein L2. However, the mechanism of delivery onto and tethering to the condensed chromosomes is barely understood on a mechanistic level. To date it is unclear, which cellular proteins facilitate this process in interaction with L2 or how this process is regulated. Here, we discovered that HPV16 minor capsid protein L2 is phosphorylated during entry upon mitosis onset on conserved residues within the chromosome-binding region (CBR) that is responsible for nuclear import. The crucial L2 phosphorylations occurred sequentially by the master mitotic kinases CDK1 and PLK1. L2 phosphorylation, thus, not only regulated timely delivery of HPV16 vDNA to mitotic chromatin at mitosis onset, but also likely resulted in a conformational switch in L2 that allowed engagement of cellular proteins for this purpose. In summary, our work demonstrates for the first time a crucial role of mitotic kinases for nuclear entry of a DNA virus and provides important insights into the molecular mechanism of pathogen import into the nucleus during mitosis.