Completion of mitosis requires neither fzr/rap nor fzr2, a male germ line-specific Drosophila Cdh1 homolog

Proteolysis of mitotic regulators like securins and cyclins requires Fizzy(FZY)/Cdc20 and Fizzy-related(FZR)/Hct1/Cdh1 proteins [1-5]. Budding yeast Cdh1 acts not only during G1, but is also required for B-type cyclin degradation during exit from mitosis when Cdh1 is a target of the mitotic exit network controlling progression through late mitosis and cytokinesis [6, 7]. In contrast, observations in frog and Drosophila embryos have suggested that the orthologous FZR is not involved during exit from mitosis [3, 8]. However, the potential involvement of minor amounts of maternally derived FZR was not excluded in these studies. Similarly, the reported absence of severe mitotic defects in chicken Cdh1(-/-) cells [9] might be explained by the recent identification of multiple Cdh1 genes [10]. Here, we have carefully analyzed the FZR requirement during exit from mitosis in Drosophila, which, apart from fzr, has only one additional homolog. We find that this fzr2 gene, although expressed in the male germline, is not expressed during mitotic divisions. Moreover, by characterizing fzr alleles, we demonstrate that completion of mitosis including Cyclin B degradation does not require FZR. However, fzr is an essential gene corresponding to the rap locus, and FZR, which accumulates predominantly in the cytoplasm, is clearly required during G1.