Functional characterization of the Mad1p, a spindle checkpoint protein in fission yeast

Defects in the mitotic spindle or in the attachment of chromosomes to the spindle are believed to release an activated form of spindle checkpoint complex that inhibits APC-dependent ubiquitination and subsequently arrests the cell cycle at metaphase. When the spindle assembly is disrupted, the fission yeast mitotic arrest deficient (mad) mutants fail to arrest and rapidly lose viability. To enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms for the pathway of checkpoint function, the functional characterizations of Mad1p from Schizosaccharomyces pombe involved in this process have been carried out. Yeast two-hybrid and various deletion analyses of S. pombe Mad1p reveal that the C terminus of Mad1p is critical for the binding of Mad2p and maintenance of Mad1p-Mad2p interaction. In addition, it was found that the Mad1p region (residues 206-356) is essential for Mad 1 p-other checkpoint components. Mad1p truncating this region is sufficient to bind Mad2p but abolishes the checkpoint function, indicating that the checkpoint function is necessary for interaction of Mad1p-other checkpoint components. The possible functions of S. pombe Mad1p at the cell cycle checkpoint are discussed.