Identification of Pathways Required for the Coordination of Late Mitotic Events in Animal Cells

摘要

The temporal coordination of anaphase, cytokinesis and mitotic exit is essential for the production of viable daughter cells, and mutations that affect the proper timing of these events result in genomic instability, a hallmark of cancer. In yeast, a signaling pathway has been identified, called the Mitotic Exit Network, which coordinates mitotic exit and cytokinesis with the end of anaphase. The identification and characterization of such a pathway in human cells is necessary to further our understanding of how normal cell division is regulated and will highlight possible mechanisms of genomic instability in tumor cells. In order to discover those genes that are involved specifically in animal cell division and are not conserved in yeast, we are taking advantage of the nematode, C. elegans. Using the yeast two-hybrid system, we have mapped the physical interactions of many C. elegans genes believed to be potential mitotic regulators. The goal was to generate a large protein interaction map, which in combination with phenotypic data will help to elucidate the biochemical pathways involved in coordinating mitotic events in animal cells.