Role of Mad2 expression during the early development of the sea urchin.

Mitotic arrest deficient 2 (Mad2) belongs to the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), a mechanism that blocks progression of the cell cycle until microtubule attachment to kinetochores is complete. It has been found to be involved in the resistance of cancer cells to "anti-mitotic" drugs such as paclitaxel. Mad2 controls meiotic progression, but its role during sea urchin development had never been investigated. Furthermore, the existence of a SAC in this species had never been proved. The present data show that a Mad2 protein, highly homologous to that of humans, is expressed in this species. Mad2 expression increases during development, becoming confined to the endomesoderm at gastrula stages. The level of Mad2 expression is enhanced in embryos that do not gastrulate after treatment with anti-mitotic drugs, lithium or inhibition of the ERK pathway. Mis-aligned and lagging chromosomes were induced after injection of an anti-Mad2 antibody or a Mad2 morpholino. Our results point to the role of a non-canonical SAC involving Mad2 in the control of mitotic divisions of the sea urchin embryo.

[1]  K. Wassmann,et al.  How oocytes try to get it right: spindle checkpoint control in meiosis , 2016, Chromosoma.

[2]  M. Lampson,et al.  Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Acquisition at the Mid-Blastula Transition , 2015, PloS one.

[3]  J. Nilsson,et al.  Regulation of mitotic progression by the spindle assembly checkpoint , 2015, Molecular & cellular oncology.

[4]  R. Perona,et al.  Mad2 and BubR1 modulates tumourigenesis and paclitaxel response in MKN45 gastric cancer cells , 2014, Cell cycle.

[5]  J. Vicente,et al.  Mad2, Bub3, and Mps1 regulate chromosome segregation and mitotic synchrony in Giardia intestinalis, a binucleate protist lacking an anaphase-promoting complex , 2014, Molecular biology of the cell.

[6]  V. Hinman,et al.  Developmental gene regulatory network evolution: Insights from comparative studies in echinoderms , 2014, Genesis.

[7]  Guojun Sheng,et al.  EMT in developmental morphogenesis. , 2013, Cancer letters.

[8]  M. Piquemal,et al.  Autophagy is used as a survival program in unfertilized sea urchin eggs that are destined to die by apoptosis after inactivation of MAPK1/3 (ERK2/1) , 2013, Autophagy.

[9]  B. Ciapa,et al.  Intracellular and Extracellular pH and Ca Are Bound to Control Mitosis in the Early Sea Urchin Embryo via ERK and MPF Activities , 2013, PloS one.

[10]  H. Lehrach,et al.  A global view of gene expression in lithium and zinc treated sea urchin embryos: new components of gene regulatory networks , 2007, Genome Biology.

[11]  R. Karess,et al.  Flies without a spindle checkpoint , 2007, Nature Cell Biology.

[12]  D. Burgess,et al.  Induction of cytokinesis is independent of precisely regulated microtubule dynamics. , 2005, Molecular biology of the cell.

[13]  T. Lepage,et al.  Left-right asymmetry in the sea urchin embryo is regulated by nodal signaling on the right side. , 2005, Developmental cell.

[14]  Qing-Yuan Sun,et al.  Intra-oocyte Localization of MAD2 and Its Relationship with Kinetochores, Microtubules, and Chromosomes in Rat Oocytes During Meiosis1 , 2004, Biology of reproduction.

[15]  Lydia Besnardeau,et al.  A Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway is required for development of the sea urchin embryo micromere lineage through phosphorylation of the transcription factor Ets , 2004, Development.

[16]  W. Nelson,et al.  Colocalization and Redistribution of Dishevelled and Actin during WNT-Induced Mesenchymal Morphogenesis , 2000, The Journal of cell biology.

[17]  C. Rieder,et al.  The checkpoint control for anaphase onset does not monitor excess numbers of spindle poles or bipolar spindle symmetry. , 1997, Journal of cell science.

[18]  R. Britten,et al.  Ligand-dependent stimulation of introduced mammalian brain receptors alters spicule symmetry and other morphogenetic events in sea urchin embryos , 1994, Mechanisms of Development.

[19]  R. Keller,et al.  The effects of aphidicolin on morphogenesis and differentiation in the sea urchin embryo. , 1986, Developmental biology.