Novel Functional Dissection of the Localization-Specific Roles of Budding Yeast Polo Kinase Cdc5p

Abstract

Budding yeast polo kinase Cdc5p localizes to the spindle pole body (SPB) and to the bud-neck and plays multiple roles during M-phase progression. To dissect localization-specific mitotic functions of Cdc5p, we tethered a localization-defective N-terminal kinase domain of Cdc5p (Cdc5pΔC) to the SPB or to the bud-neck with components specifically localizing to one of these sites and characterized these mutants in a cdc5Δ background. Characterization of a viable, SPB-localizing, CDC5ΔC-CNM67 mutant revealed that it is defective in timely degradation of Swe1p, a negative regulator of Cdc28p. Loss of BFA1, a negative regulator of mitotic exit, rescued the lethality of a neck-localizing CDC5ΔC-CDC12 or CDC5ΔC-CDC3 mutant but yielded severe defects in cytokinesis. These data suggest that the SPB-associated Cdc5p activity is critical for both mitotic exit and cytokinesis, whereas the bud neck-localized Cdc5p is required for proper Swe1p regulation. Interestingly, a cdc5Δ bfa1Δ swe1Δ triple mutant is viable but grows slowly, whereas cdc5Δ cells bearing both CDC5ΔC-CNM67 and CDC5ΔC-CDC12 grow well with only a mild cell cycle delay. Thus, SPB- and the bud-neck-localized Cdc5p control most of the critical Cdc5p functions and downregulation of Bfa1p and Swe1p at the respective locations are two critical factors that require Cdc5p.

We thank Craig Bennett, Trisha Davis, Raymond J. Deshaies, John Kilmartin, Daniel J. Lew, David O. Morgan, Elmar Schiebel, and Mark Winey for reagents; Susan Garfield for help with confocal microscopy; and Tara Millington for reading the manuscript. We also thank Chris Spates for support throughout the course of this work.

This study was supported, in part, by an NIH Office of International Affairs predoctoral fellowship (J.-E.P.).