Budding yeast SKP1 encodes an evolutionarily conserved kinetochore protein required for cell cycle progression

The budding yeast SKP1 gene, identified as a dosage suppressor of a known kinetochore protein mutant, encodes an intrinsic 22.3 kDa subunit of CBF3, a multi-protein complex that binds centromere DNA in vitro. Temperature-sensitive mutations in SKP1 define two distinct phenotypic classes. skp1-4 mutants arrest predominantly as large budded cells with a G2 DNA content and short mitotic spindle, consistent with a role in kinetochore function, skp1-3 mutants, however, arrest predominantly as multiply budded cells with a G1 DNA content, suggesting an additional role during the G1/S phase. Identification of Skp1p homologs from C. elegans, A. thaliana, and H. sapiens indicates that SKP1 is evolutionarily highly conserved. Skp1p therefore represents an intrinsic kinetochore protein conserved throughout eukaryotic evolution and may be directly involved in linking kinetochore function with the cell cycle-regulatory machinery.