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The centrosome linker serves to hold the duplicated centrosomes together until they separate in late G2/early mitosis. Precisely how the linker is assembled remains an open question. In this study, we identify Cep44 as a novel component of the linker in human cells. Cep44 localizes to the proximal end of centrioles, including mother and daughter centrioles, and its ablation leads to loss of centrosome cohesion. Cep44 does not impinge on the stability of C-Nap1 (also known as CEP250), LRRC45 or Cep215 (also known as CDK5RAP2), and vice versa, and these proteins are independently recruited to the centrosome. Rather, Cep44 associates with rootletin and regulates its stability and localization to the centrosome. Our findings reveal a role of the previously uncharacterized protein Cep44 for centrosome cohesion and linker assembly., Highlighted Article: Maintenance of centrosome cohesion is critical for the fidelity of cell division. Here, we show that the novel protein Cep44 plays a unique role in the cohesion process through stabilizing rootletin.

Viruses exploit the host cell machinery for their own profit. To evade innate immune sensing and promote viral replication, HIV type 1 (HIV-1) subverts DNA repair regulatory proteins and induces G2/M arrest. The preintegration complex of HIV-1 is known to traffic along microtubules and accumulate near the microtubule-organizing center. The centrosome is the major microtubule-organizing center in most eukaryotic cells, but precisely how HIV-1 impinges on centrosome biology remains poorly understood. We report here that the HIV-1 accessory protein viral protein R (Vpr) localized to the centrosome through binding to DCAF1, forming a complex with the ubiquitin ligase EDD-DYRK2-DDB1DCAF1 and Cep78, a resident centrosomal protein previously shown to inhibit EDD-DYRK2-DDB1DCAF1. Vpr did not affect ubiquitination of Cep78. Rather, it enhanced ubiquitination of an EDD-DYRK2-DDB1DCAF1 substrate, CP110, leading to its degradation, an effect that could be overcome by Cep78 expression. The down-regulation of CP110 and elongation of centrioles provoked by Vpr were independent of G2/M arrest. Infection of T lymphocytes with HIV-1, but not with HIV-1 lacking Vpr, promoted CP110 degradation and centriole elongation. Elongated centrioles recruited more γ-tubulin to the centrosome, resulting in increased microtubule nucleation. Our results suggest that Vpr is targeted to the centrosome where it hijacks a ubiquitin ligase, disrupting organelle homeostasis, which may contribute to HIV-1 pathogenesis.

The centrosome plays a critical role in various cellular processes including cell division and cilia formation, and deregulation of centrosome homeostasis is a hallmark feature of many human diseases. Here, we show that centrosomal protein of 78 kDa (Cep78) localizes to mature centrioles and directly interacts with viral protein R binding protein (VprBP). Although VprBP is a component of two distinct E3 ubiquitin ligases, EDD‐DYRK2‐DDB1Vpr BP and CRL4Vpr BP, Cep78 binds specifically to EDD‐DYRK2‐DDB1Vpr BP and inhibits its activity. A pool of EDD‐DYRK2‐DDB1Vpr BP is active at the centrosome and mediates ubiquitination of CP110, a novel centrosomal substrate. Deregulation of Cep78 or EDD‐DYRK2‐DDB1Vpr BP perturbs CP110 ubiquitination and protein stability, thereby affecting centriole length and cilia assembly. Mechanistically, ubiquitination of CP110 entails its phosphorylation by DYRK2 and binding to VprBP. Cep78 specifically impedes the transfer of ubiquitin from EDD to CP110 without affecting CP110 phosphorylation and binding to VprBP. Thus, we identify Cep78 as a new player that regulates centrosome homeostasis by inhibiting the final step of the enzymatic reaction catalyzed by EDD‐DYRK2‐DDB1Vpr BP.

Acetylation is among the most prevalent posttranslational modifications in cells and regulates a number of physiological processes such as gene transcription, cell metabolism, and cell signaling. Although initially discovered on nuclear histones, many non-nuclear proteins have subsequently been found to be acetylated as well. The centrosome is the major microtubule-organizing center in most metazoans. Recent proteomic data indicate that a number of proteins in this subcellular compartment are acetylated. This review gives an overview of our current knowledge on protein acetylation at the centrosome and its functional relevance in organelle biology.

Acetylation is among the most prevalent posttranslational modifications in cells and regulates a number of physiological processes such as gene transcription, cell metabolism, and cell signaling. Although initially discovered on nuclear histones, many non-nuclear proteins have subsequently been found to be acetylated as well. The centrosome is the major microtubule-organizing center in most metazoans. Recent proteomic data indicate that a number of proteins in this subcellular compartment are acetylated. This review gives an overview of our current knowledge on protein acetylation at the centrosome and its functional relevance in organelle biology.

During ciliogenesis, the mother centriole transforms into a basal body competent to nucleate a cilium. The mother centriole and basal body possess sub-distal appendages (SDAs) and basal feet (BF), respectively. SDAs and BF are thought to be equivalent structures. In contrast to SDA assembly, little is known about the players involved in BF assembly and its assembly order. Furthermore, the contribution of BF to ciliogenesis is not understood. Here, we found that SDAs are distinguishable from BF and that the protein NPHP5 is a novel SDA and BF component. Remarkably, NPHP5 is specifically required for BF assembly in cells able to form basal bodies but is dispensable for SDA assembly. Determination of the hierarchical assembly reveals that NPHP5 cooperates with a subset of SDA/BF proteins to organize BF. The assembly pathway of BF is similar but not identical to that of SDA. Loss of NPHP5 or a BF protein simultaneously inhibits BF assembly and primary ciliogenesis, and these phenotypes could be rescued by manipulating the expression of certain components in the BF assembly pathway. These findings define a novel role for NPHP5 in specifically regulating BF assembly, a process which is tightly coupled to primary ciliogenesis.

The primary cilium is a cellular antenna found on the surface of many eukaryotic cells, whose main role is to sense and transduce signals that regulate growth, development, and differentiation. Although once believed to be a vestigial organelle without important function, it has become clear that defects in primary cilium are responsible for a wide variety of genetic diseases affecting many organs and tissues, including the brain, eyes, heart, kidneys, liver, and pancreas. The primary cilium is mainly present in quiescent and differentiated cells, and controls must exist to ensure that this organelle is assembled or disassembled at the right time. Although many protein components required for building the cilium have been identified, mechanistic details of how these proteins are spatially and temporally regulated and how these regulations are connected to external cues are beginning to emerge. This review article highlights the role of ubiquitination and in particular, E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases, in the control of primary cilia assembly and disassembly.

Viruses exploit the host cell machinery for their own profit. To evade innate immune sensing and promote viral replication, HIV type 1 (HIV-1) subverts DNA repair regulatory proteins and induces G(2)/M arrest. The preintegration complex of HIV-1 is known to traffic along microtubules and accumulate near the microtubule-organizing center. The centrosome is the major microtubule-organizing center in most eukaryotic cells, but precisely how HIV-1 impinges on centrosome biology remains poorly understood. We report here that the HIV-1 accessory protein viral protein R (Vpr) localized to the centrosome through binding to DCAF1, forming a complex with the ubiquitin ligase EDD-DYRK2-DDB1(DCAF1) and Cep78, a resident centrosomal protein previously shown to inhibit EDD-DYRK2-DDB1(DCAF1). Vpr did not affect ubiquitination of Cep78. Rather, it enhanced ubiquitination of an EDD-DYRK2-DDB1(DCAF1) substrate, CP110, leading to its degradation, an effect that could be overcome by Cep78 expression. The down-regulation of CP110 and elongation of centrioles provoked by Vpr were independent of G(2)/M arrest. Infection of T lymphocytes with HIV-1, but not with HIV-1 lacking Vpr, promoted CP110 degradation and centriole elongation. Elongated centrioles recruited more γ-tubulin to the centrosome, resulting in increased microtubule nucleation. Our results suggest that Vpr is targeted to the centrosome where it hijacks a ubiquitin ligase, disrupting organelle homeostasis, which may contribute to HIV-1 pathogenesis.

Mutations in the human NPHP5 gene cause retinal and renal disease but the precise mechanisms by which NPHP5 functions are not understood. We report that NPHP5 is a centriolar protein whose depletion inhibits an early step of ciliogenesis, a phenotype reminiscent of Cep290 loss and contrary to IFT88 loss. Functional dissection of NPHP5 interactions with Cep290 and CaM reveals a requirement of the former for ciliogenesis, while the latter prevents NPHP5 self-aggregation. Disease-causing mutations lead to truncated products unable to bind Cep290 and localize to centrosomes, thereby compromising cilia formation. In contrast, a modifier mutation cripples CaM-binding but has no overt effect on ciliogenesis. Drugs that antagonize negative regulators of the ciliogenic pathway can rescue ciliogenesis in cells depleted of NPHP5, with response profiles similar to those of Cep290- but not IFT88-depleted cells. Our results uncover the underlying molecular basis of disease and provide novel insights into mitigating NPHP5 deficiency.

SummaryMammalian centrioles play a dynamic role in centrosome function, but they also have the capacity to nucleate the assembly of cilia. Although controls must exist to specify these different fates, the key regulators remain largely undefined. We have purified complexes associated with CP110, a protein that plays an essential role in centrosome duplication and cytokinesis, and have identified a previously uncharacterized protein, Cep97, that recruits CP110 to centrosomes. Depletion of Cep97 or expression of dominant-negative mutants results in CP110 disappearance from centrosomes, spindle defects, and polyploidy. Remarkably, loss of Cep97 or CP110 promotes primary cilia formation in growing cells, and enforced expression of CP110 in quiescent cells suppresses their ability to assemble cilia, suggesting that Cep97 and CP110 collaborate to inhibit a ciliogenesis program. Identification of Cep97 and other genes involved in regulation of cilia assembly may accelerate our understanding of human ciliary diseases, including renal disease and retinal degeneration.

Proper functioning of cilia, hair-like structures responsible for sensation and locomotion, requires nephrocystin-5 (NPHP5) and a multi-subunit complex called the Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS)ome, but their precise relationship is not understood. The BBSome is involved in the trafficking of membrane cargos to cilia. While it is known that a loss of any single subunit prevents ciliary trafficking of the BBSome and its cargos, the mechanisms underlying ciliary entry of this complex are not well characterized. Here, we report that a transition zone protein NPHP5 contains two separate BBS-binding sites and interacts with the BBSome to mediate its integrity. Depletion of NPHP5, or expression of NPHP5 mutant missing one binding site, specifically leads to dissociation of BBS2 and BBS5 from the BBSome and loss of ciliary BBS2 and BBS5 without compromising the ability of the other subunits to traffic into cilia. Depletion of Cep290, another transition zone protein that directly binds to NPHP5, causes additional dissociation of BBS8 and loss of ciliary BBS8. Furthermore, delivery of BBSome cargos, smoothened, VPAC2 and Rab8a, to the ciliary compartment is completely disabled in the absence of single BBS subunits, but is selectively impaired in the absence of NPHP5 or Cep290. These findings define a new role of NPHP5 and Cep290 in controlling integrity and ciliary trafficking of the BBSome, which in turn impinge on the delivery of ciliary cargo.

Growth and development rely on the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) as the major source of ATP. We measured the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number of each of the Caenorhabditis elegans developmental stages. Embryos, L1, L2, and L3 larvae all have approximately 25,000 copies of maternally derived mtDNA. The copy number increases fivefold in L4 larvae and a further sixfold in adult hermaphrodites, but only twofold in adult males. The majority of mtDNA in adult worms is germline associated, and germline-deficient mutants show markedly reduced mtDNA contents. With sperm-deficient or oocyte-deficient mutants, we confirm that mtDNA amplification is primarily associated with oocyte production. When mtDNA replication is inhibited, a quantitative and homogeneous arrest as L3 larvae occurs. Thus, mtDNA amplification is a necessary component of normal development and its regulation may involve an energy-sensing decision or checkpoint that can be invoked when mitochondrial energy generation is impaired.

Shugoshin 1 (Sgo1) functions as a protector of centromeric cohesion of sister chromatids in higher eukaryotes. Here, we provide evidence for a new role for Sgo1 in centriole cohesion. Sgo1 depletion via RNA interference induces the formation of multiple centrosome-like structures in mitotic cells that result from the separation of paired centrioles. Sgo1+/− mitotic murine embryonic fibroblasts display split centrosomes. Localization study of two major endogenous splice variants of Sgo1 indicates that the smaller variant, sSgo1, is found at the centrosome in interphase and at spindle poles in mitosis. sSgo1 interacts with Plk1 and its spindle pole localization is Plk1-dependent. Centriole splitting induced by Sgo1 depletion or expressing a dominant negative mutant is suppressed by ectopic expression of sSgo1 or by Plk1 knockdown. Our studies strongly suggest that sSgo1 plays an essential role in protecting centriole cohesion, which is partly regulated by Plk1.

Centrosomes are the tiny organelles found in most eukaryotic systems. By virtue of their ability to anchor, organize and nucleate microtubules, they play a crucial role in establishing spindle bipolarity and in ensuring the fidelity of cell division. Defects in centrosome structure and function often result in mitotic catastrophe, cell cycle arrest, cell death, genomic instability and/or aneuploidy, leading to human disorders such as primary microcephaly, cancer and ciliopathies. Interestingly, genomic instability and aneuploidy are also hallmarks of aging and cellular senescence, but our understanding of the connection between centrosome dysfunction and senescence remains rudimentary. In this review, we focus on existing evidence suggesting that these two phenomena are indeed related, along with the emerging view that centrosome aberrations represent a form of cellular stress that is necessary and sufficient to trigger a permanent cell cycle arrest and senescence. The molecular mechanisms underlying cellular senescence as a consequence of centrosome aberrations and the involvement of p53 will be discussed.

Centrosomes duplicate only once per cell cycle, but the controls that govern this process are largely unknown. We have identified Cep76, a centriolar protein that interacts with CP110. Cep76 is expressed at low levels in G1 and is induced in S and G2 phase, during which point centrioles have already commenced duplication. Interestingly, depletion of Cep76 drives the accumulation of centriolar intermediates in certain types of cancer cells. Enforced Cep76 expression specifically inhibits centriole amplification in cells undergoing multiple rounds of duplication without preventing the formation of extra procentrioles from a parental template. Furthermore, elevated levels of Cep76 do not affect normal centriole duplication. Thus, Cep76 specifically prevents centriole re-duplication by limiting duplication to once per cell cycle. Our findings also point to mechanistic differences between normal duplication and aberrant centriole amplification as well as distinctions between diverse modes of amplification.

Cyclin A is a key regulator of DNA replication and mitosis, and cyclin A/Cdk2 activity is critical for progression of cells from G(1)/S to M phase of the cell cycle. There is abundant evidence that cyclin A is predominantly localized to, and functions in, the nucleus, and a number of nuclear cyclin A/Cdk2 substrates have been identified. Evidence supporting the presence of cyclin A and its associated activity in the cytoplasm have also been reported, but the biological significance of this cyclin/Cdk pool during cell cycle progression remains controversial. Recently, we identified and characterized a new cyclin A/Cdk2 substrate named SCAPER which is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. By sequestering cyclin A/Cdk2, SCAPER is capable of directing the activity of this kinase complex away from the nucleus and regulating cyclin A/Cdk2 equilibrium in distinct subcellular compartments. This work paves new avenues for understanding the role of cytoplasmic cyclin A/Cdk2 and its potential contribution to cancer and tumor formation.

The mitochondrial respiratory chain is composed of five protein complexes capable of generating cellular energy in the form of ATP. Defects in mitochondrial energy production can result in a wide variety of diseases with tissue-specific effects. We previously have isolated a mutation in the atp-2 gene, which encodes the active site or beta-subunit of complex V in Caenorhabditis elegans. This atp-2(ua2) mutation is lethal, resulting in developmental arrest at the third larval stage (L3). In this report, we use mosaic analysis to identify the tissues in which atp-2 gene activity is dispensable for development past the L3 stage. The loss of atp-2 in any tissue can provoke arrest at the L3 stage. However, animals with a loss of the atp-2 gene in the ABa lineage, which gives rise to neuronal, pharyngeal, and hypodermal cells, and/or the E lineage, which gives rise to the intestinal cells, can occasionally develop past L3. Loss of atp-2 gene function in the lineages that give rise to the body muscles is invariably associated with developmental arrest. This finding suggests that the body muscles may play a key role in regulating development. We conclude that atp-2 functions cell nonautonomously in this developmental process. Our findings suggest that atp-2 is involved in the production or the regulation of a global, developmental signal required for the L3-to-L4 transition.

Many human mitochondrial diseases are associated with defects in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Mutated and wild-type forms of mtDNA often coexist in the same cell in a state called heteroplasmy. Here, we report the isolation of a Caenorhabditis elegans strain bearing the 3.1-kb uaDf5 deletion that removes 11 genes from the mtDNA. The uaDf5 deletion is maternally transmitted and has been maintained for at least 100 generations in a stable heteroplasmic state in which it accounts for ~60% of the mtDNA content of each developmental stage. Heteroplasmy levels vary between individual animals (from ~20 to 80%), but no observable phenotype is detected. The total mtDNA copy number in the uaDf5 mutant is approximately twice that of the wild type. The maternal transmission of the uaDf5 mtDNA is controlled by at least two competing processes: one process promotes the increase in the average proportion of uaDf5 mtDNA in the offspring, while the second promotes a decrease. These two forces prevent the segregation of the mtDNAs to homoplasmy.Key words: mtDNA deletion, Caenorhabditis elegans, heteroplasmy, inheritance, mtDNA copy number.

The growth and development of Caenorhabditis elegans are energy-dependent and rely on the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) as the major source of ATP. The MRC is composed of approximately 70 nuclear and 12 mitochondrial gene products. Complexes I and V are multisubunit proteins of the MRC. The nuo-1 gene encodes the NADH- and FMN-binding subunit of complex I, the NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase. The atp-2 gene encodes the active-site subunit of complex V, the ATP synthase. The nuo-1(ua1) and atp-2(ua2) mutations are both lethal. They result in developmental arrest at the third larval stage (L3), arrest of gonad development at the second larval stage (L2), and impaired mobility, pharyngeal pumping, and defecation. Surprisingly, the nuo-1 and atp-2 mutations significantly lengthen the life spans of the arrested animals. When MRC biogenesis is blocked by chloramphenicol or doxycycline (inhibitors of mitochondrial translation), a quantitative and homogeneous developmental arrest as L3 larvae also results. The common phenotype induced by the mutations and drugs suggests that the L3-to-L4 transition may involve an energy-sensing developmental checkpoint. Since approximately 200 gene products are needed for MRC assembly and mtDNA replication, transcription, and translation, we predict that L3 arrest will be characteristic of mutations in these genes.