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XB-ART-40590
EMBO J 2009 Oct 21;2820:3216-27. doi: 10.1038/emboj.2009.253.
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Restraint of apoptosis during mitosis through interdomain phosphorylation of caspase-2.

Andersen JL , Johnson CE , Freel CD , Parrish AB , Day JL , Buchakjian MR , Nutt LK , Thompson JW , Moseley MA , Kornbluth S .


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The apoptotic initiator caspase-2 has been implicated in oocyte death, in DNA damage- and heat shock-induced death, and in mitotic catastrophe. We show here that the mitosis-promoting kinase, cdk1-cyclin B1, suppresses apoptosis upstream of mitochondrial cytochrome c release by phosphorylating caspase-2 within an evolutionarily conserved sequence at Ser 340. Phosphorylation of this residue, situated in the caspase-2 interdomain, prevents caspase-2 activation. S340 was susceptible to phosphatase 1 dephosphorylation, and an interaction between phosphatase 1 and caspase-2 detected during interphase was lost in mitosis. Expression of S340A non-phosphorylatable caspase-2 abrogated mitotic suppression of caspase-2 and apoptosis in various settings, including oocytes induced to undergo cdk1-dependent maturation. Moreover, U2OS cells treated with nocodazole were found to undergo mitotic catastrophe more readily when endogenous caspase-2 was replaced with the S340A mutant to lift mitotic inhibition. These data demonstrate that for apoptotic stimuli transduced by caspase-2, cell death is prevented during mitosis through the inhibitory phosphorylation of caspase-2 and suggest that under conditions of mitotic arrest, cdk1-cyclin B1 activity must be overcome for apoptosis to occur.

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Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: casp2 ccnb1 cdk1

References [+] :
Allan, Phosphorylation of caspase-9 by CDK1/cyclin B1 protects mitotic cells against apoptosis. 2007, Pubmed