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Molecular and Cellular Biology, May 2003, p. 3497-3505, Vol. 23, No. 10
0270-7306/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.23.10.3497-3505.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Two Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes, UbcP1/Ubc4 and UbcP4/Ubc11, Have Distinct Functions for Ubiquitination of Mitotic Cyclin
Hiroaki Seino,1* Tsutomu Kishi,1,2 Hideo Nishitani,3 and Fumiaki Yamao1
Division of Mutagenesis, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540,1
Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582,3
PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan2
Received 23 October 2002/
Returned for modification 4 December 2002/
Accepted 27 February 2003

ABSTRACT
Cell cycle events are regulated by sequential activation and
inactivation of Cdk kinases. Mitotic exit is accomplished by
the inactivation of mitotic Cdk kinase, which is mainly achieved
by degradation of cyclins. The ubiquitin-proteasome system is
involved in this process, requiring APC/C (anaphase-promoting
complex/cyclosome) as a ubiquitin ligase. In
Xenopus and clam
oocytes, the ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes that function with
APC/C have been identified as two proteins, UBC4 and UBCx/E2-C.
Previously we reported that the fission yeast ubiquitin-conjugating
enzyme UbcP4/Ubc11, a homologue of UBCx/E2-C, is required for
mitotic transition. Here we show that the other fission yeast
ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, UbcP1/Ubc4, which is homologous
to UBC4, is also required for mitotic transition in the same
manner as UbcP4/Ubc11. Both ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes are
essential for cell division and directly required for the degradation
of mitotic cyclin Cdc13. They function nonredundantly in the
ubiquitination of CDC13 because a defect in
ubcP1/ubc4+ cannot
be suppressed by high expression of UbcP4/Ubc11 and a defect
in
ubcP4/ubc11+ cannot be suppressed by high expression of UbcP1/Ubc4.
In vivo analysis of the ubiquitinated state of Cdc13 shows that
the ubiquitin chains on Cdc13 were short in
ubcP1/ubc4 mutant
cells while ubiquitinated Cdc13 was totally reduced in
ubcP4/ubc11 mutant cells. Taken together, these results indicate that the
two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes play distinct and essential
roles in the degradation of mitotic cyclin Cdc13, with the UbcP4/Ubc11-pathway
initiating ubiquitination of Cdc13 and the UbcP1/Ubc4-pathway
elongating the short ubiquitin chains on Cdc13.

INTRODUCTION
Ubiquitin is a highly conserved peptide consisting of 76 amino
acids. It is covalently attached to target proteins by multistep
reactions (
6,
7,
44). Ubiquitin is first activated by the formation
of thioester with the ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1. Activated
ubiquitin is then transferred to ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme
E2 (Ubcs). In most cases, ubiquitin ligase E3 catalyzes the
transfer of ubiquitin to the target proteins from Ubcs. Finally,
polyubiquitinated target proteins are degraded by the 26S proteasome.
There is a subfamily of genes that encode different ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2) (Ubcs). On the other hand, ubiquitin ligases (E3) are varied, depending on their structures. Recently, a growing number of ubiquitin ligases (E3) has been found. A combination of specialized ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes and ubiquitin ligases is responsible for highly specific recognition of the target proteins.
The timings of sequential activation and inactivation of Cdk kinases are important for regulation of the cell cycle (31). Synthesis of mitotic cyclin, association of mitotic cyclin to Cdk kinases, and phosphorylation-dephosphorylation of Cdk kinases achieve activation of mitotic Cdk kinases, whereas inactivation of the mitotic Cdk kinases is mainly achieved by degradation of mitotic cyclin (51). The mitotic cyclin/Cdc2 complex is a key regulator of mitosis (30). Activation of mitotic cyclin/Cdc2 kinase is important for initiation of mitotic events, i.e., nuclear envelope breakdown, chromosome condensation, and mitotic-spindle formation. On the other hand, degradation of mitotic cyclin is important for exit from mitosis (24, 29). Degradation of mitotic cyclin is regulated by a ubiquitin-proteasome system (28).
The ubiquitin ligase for ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin is a multicomponent ubiquitin ligase, APC/C (anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome) (13, 16, 19, 39, 43). APC/C consists of at least 11 core components in budding yeast (51). APC/C activity requires a conserved subfamily of WD40 proteins called Cdc20 and Cdh1/Hct1 in budding yeast, which are fizzy and fizzy related in Drosophila and humans (22, 36, 38, 45). These proteins associate with APC/C and function as cell cycle-specific activators of APC/C. Recently, it was reported that Cdc20 and Cdh1 recognize their substrates by physically interacting with the target proteins (14, 37). The fission yeast homologues of Cdc20 and Cdh1 are Slp1 and Ste9/Srw1, respectively. Slp1 is essential for metaphase-anaphase transition and is thought to be an activator of APC/C at mitosis (25). Ste9/Srw1 is an activator of APC/C at G1 phase and is not required for the metaphase-anaphase transition (20, 46). Ste9/Srw1 associates with APC/C, and its association is regulated by phosphorylation (4, 47).
In a biochemical analysis of Xenopus and clam oocyte extracts, UBC4 and UBCx/E2-C were identified as ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes for mitotic cyclin (2, 50). Xenopus UBC4 is more processive than UBCx for ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin in a biochemical analysis (40, 50). A dominant negative form of E2-C and its human homologue UbcH10 were shown to cause mitotic arrest in mammalian cells (3, 41). Furthermore, the human and budding yeast Ubc4 proteins physically interact with a RING-H2 finger domain-containing APC/C component, Apc11, in vitro (10, 23, 40). On the other hand, human UbcH10 physically interacts with a cullin homology domain-containing APC/C component, Apc2, in vitro (40).
Fission yeast UbcP1/Ubc4, a homologue of UBC4 (Table 1), causes mitotic arrest when it is overexpressed (17). Previously, we reported that UbcP4/Ubc11, a fission yeast homologue of UBCx/E2-C, is essential for the transition of mitosis (32). Mitotic cyclin with high Cdc2 kinase activity accumulated in UbcP4/Ubc11-depleted cells. However, all of these results did not elucidate the functional difference and relationship between these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes in vivo.
Here we show that
ubcP1/
ubc4+ is also essential for cell viability.
UbcP1/Ubc4-depleted cells arrest their growth during mitosis
while accumulating Cdc13. In synchronization experiments, Cdc13
is stabilized in G
1-arrested UbcP1/Ubc4- or UbcP4/Ubc11-depleted
cells. Disappearance of Cdc13 caused by overproduction of Ste9/Srw1
is dependent on the activity of both UbcP1/Ubc4 and UbcP4/Ubc11.
Furthermore, ubiquitin chains of Cdc13 are short in
ubcP1/
ubc4 mutant cells. In contrast, ubiquitinated Cdc13 is totally reduced
in
ubcP4/
ubc11 mutant cells. These results indicate that the
two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes function differently in the
ubiquitination of Cdc13. We conclude that these two ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes have distinct and essential functions in the ubiquitination
of Cdc13 with APC/C.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Yeast techniques.
The yeast strains used in this study are described in Table
2. Cells were grown as described by Alfa et al. (
1). Temperature-sensitive
mutant strains were cultured at 25°C, while those of other
strains were cultured at 30°C. For repression of the
nmt1 promoter, thiamine was added at a final concentration of 5 µg/ml.
The standard genetic methods used for
Schizosaccharomyces pombe were described by Alfa et al. (
1).
Plasmids.
pREP81-ubcP4 (
32) was digested with
NdeI and
SalI, and a
ubcP4+ cDNA fragment was transferred into pREP41. pREP41-ubcP1 (
32)
was digested with
NdeI and
BamHI, and a
ubcP1+ cDNA fragment
was transferred into pREP81. A
ste9+ genomic fragment was amplified
from fission yeast genomic DNA by PCR with primers AC
GGATCCATGGATGAATTTGATGGGTT
and AC
GGATCCTTACCGTATTTTCATTGTAG (
BamHI sites are underlined)
and cloned into a
BamHI site of pREP1. A
cdc13+ genomic fragment
was amplified from fission yeast genomic DNA by PCR with primers
CGT
CATATGACTACCCGTCGTTTAAC and CTTGACGTCT
GCGGCCGCATTCTTCATCTTTCATG
(
NdeI and
NotI sites, respectively, are underlined) and cloned
into pINV1-spc1-HA6His (
15) (a gift from F. Gaits). A fragment
containing the
cdc13+ open reading frame and a hemagglutinin
(HA)-six-His tag (HA6His) was digested with
NdeI and
SacI and
transferred to pREP1.
Isolation and disruption of the ubcP1+ gene.
Fission yeast genomic DNA was partially digested with Sau3AI and cloned into a BamHI site of pUC119. This fission yeast genomic library was screened with a ubcP1+ cDNA fragment. The isolated DNA fragment containing the ubcP1+ gene was digested with PstI (this site is in the linker of pUC119) and EcoRI and cloned into the PstI and EcoRI sites of pUC119. This plasmid was digested with BamHI and EcoRV, and a fragment containing ubcP1+ was replaced with a fragment containing ura4+. A wild-type diploid strain was transformed with this fragment. Transformants were selected for uracil autotrophy, and gene disruption was confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analysis.
Construction of strain ubcP1-P61S.
The fragment of a ubcP1+ gene in pUC119 was amplified by PCR with an M13 RV primer (TaKaRa) and primer CTGAATTCATTTTACATTTCTTTC (the EcoRI site is underlined), cloned into the EcoRI and PstI sites of pUC119, and mutagenized with primer GGTGGCTTGAATGAGTAGTCCG (the mutated nucleotide is underlined) as recommended in the TaKaRa construction manual for in vitro mutagenesis primers. The mutation was verified by sequencing. This allele was designated ubcP1-P61S. The mutagenized plasmid was digested with SnaBI, and a fragment containing ura4+ was introduced. Wild-type strain JY741 was transformed with this ubcP1-P61S::ura4+ fragment, and transformants with uracil autotrophy were selected at 25°C, duplicated to a fresh plate containing 5 µg of Phloxine B per ml, and incubated at 36°C. Temperature-sensitive strains were isolated on the basis of the red color of the colonies at 36°C. Homologous recombination was verified by Southern blotting, and a mutation was verified by sequencing. We also found that G was changed to A at position 5 in the second intron of the ubcP1-P61S gene. This mutation might have been introduced by misincorporation in the PCR process for site-directed mutagenesis.
Antibodies.
Anti-Cdc13 serum was described by Osaka et al. (32). Anti-Cdc2 (PSTAIRE) antibody was purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology. Antiubiquitin monoclonal antibody was purchased from CHEMICON International, Inc. Anti-multiubiquitinated protein monoclonal antibodies FK1 and FK2 were purchased from MBL. Anti-Ste9 antibody was a gift from Sergio Moreno.
Western blotting.
The method used to prepare total protein for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was described by Kaiser et al. (18). Protein samples were resolved by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotted onto nitrocellulose filters. Proteins were detected by primary antibodies, horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies (Amersham), and ECL Western blotting detection reagent (Amersham).
Purification of ubiquitinated Cdc13-HA6His.
Cells (10 optical density at 600 nm units) were disrupted in extraction buffer (8 M guanidine-HCl, 50 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.5], 10 mM imidazole) with glass beads. Extracts were clarified by microcentrifugation (15,000 x g, 10 min), and the protein concentration was determined by the Bio-Rad protein assay (Bio-Rad). One hundred microliters (50%, vol/vol) of Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) agarose (QIAGEN) was added to the 300 µg of total protein extracts. After protein binding, the Ni-NTA agarose was washed intensively with the extraction buffer and a protein buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.5], 10 mM imidazole, 10% glycerol). Binding proteins were eluted with SDS-gel loading buffer containing 100 mM imidazole by boiling for 5 min and analyzed by Western blotting
Other methods.
Flow cytometry was performed on a Becton Dickinson FACScan apparatus with propidium iodide staining of cells as described previously (32). For phenotypic analysis, cells were fixed with methanol and stained with 4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). The standard DNA technique used was described by Sambrook et al. (33).

RESULTS
The ubcP1+ gene is essential for progression of mitosis.
We previously reported the isolation of four ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes from fission yeast by in vitro analysis (
32). Two of
these ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, UbcP1/Ubc4 and UbcP4/Ubc11,
are homologous to
Xenopus UBC4 and UBCx, respectively. The amino
acid sequence of fission yeast UbcP1/Ubc4 is highly homologous
to that of
Xenopus UBC4 through its entire region (Fig.
1A).
To elucidate the function(s) of UbcP1 in fission yeast, we constructed
a mutant with
ubcP1+ disrupted. In this mutant, approximately
half of the N-terminal, Cys residue-containing portion (amino
acids 1 to 87) of UbcP1, which contributes to thioester formation
with a ubiquitin molecule, is disrupted. In the diploid strain,
ubcP1+ was disrupted by one-step gene replacement (see Materials
and Methods). Conventional tetrad analysis showed that
ubcP1+ is essential for cell viability (data not shown). To examine
the phenotype of
ubcP1-deficient cells, we constructed a strain
in which chromosomal
ubcP1+ was replaced with
ura4+ and kept
alive by conditionally expressed UbcP1 from an
nmt1 promoter
on pREP81 (
26). This strain, designated

ubcP1, was first grown
in medium without thiamine, and then thiamine was added to the
medium to repress the expression of UbcP1. About 20 h after
the addition of thiamine, the

ubcP1 mutant stopped cell division
(Fig.
1B). At 24 h after addition of thiamine, cells were fixed
and their chromosomes were stained with DAPI (Fig.
1C). The
cells exhibited abnormal mitosis with highly condensed chromosomes.
About 40% of the cells had condensed chromosomes that were not
separated, about 15% of the cells had condensed and displaced
chromosomes, and about 10% of the cells had the cut (cell untimely
tone) phenotype, in which the condensed chromosomes were disrupted
by septation. The DNA content of the arrested cells was 2c (data
not shown). These results indicate that
ubcP1+ is required for
progression of mitosis.
Cdc13 accumulates in UbcP1-depleted cells.
The phenotype of the UbcP1-depleted cells suggests that UbcP1
is involved in the degradation of mitotic cyclin Cdc13. Therefore,
we examined the amount of Cdc13 in UbcP1-depleted cells. Thiamine
was added to a culture of

ubcP1 cells to repress the expression
of UbcP1. At the indicated times after addition of thiamine,
protein samples were prepared. The level of Cdc13 was analyzed
by Western blotting with anti-Cdc13 serum (Fig.
2). At about
12 h after the addition of thiamine, Cdc13 began to accumulate
in the UbcP1-depleted cells. The accumulation of Cdc13 began
before the growth arrest (compare Fig.
1B and
2), suggesting
that Cdc13 accumulation did not result from the cell cycle arrest
at mitosis.
Cdc13 is stabilized in UbcP1- or UbcP4-depleted cells at G1 phase.
The above results suggest two possibilities. One is that the
mitotic arrest before the degradation of Cdc13 causes Cdc13
accumulation. The other is that Cdc13 is actually stabilized.
To distinguish between these possibilities, cells were synchronized
at the G
1 phase and the stability of Cdc13 was determined. Cdc13
disappeared in strain cdc10 cells at 4 h after a shift to 36°C
as previously described (Fig.
3A and C) (
21,
48). In contrast,
Cdc13 remained at a significant level in cdc10

ubcP1 cells at
4 h after the shift to 36°C (Fig.
2A). At this time point,
although the DNA content of a small number of cells remained
at 2c, a significant number of strain cdc10

ubcP1 cells were
arrested at the G
1 phase (Fig.
2B). These results indicate that
Cdc13 is stabilized in UbcP1-depleted cells even at the G
1 phase.
We previously reported that Cdc13 also accumulated in UbcP4-depleted
cells (
32). When similar synchronization experiments were done
with strain cdc10

ubcP4 cells, essentially the same results were
obtained when UbcP4 was depleted in G
1-arrested cells (Fig.
3C and D). In these G
1 cells, Cdc13 was degraded by the APC/C
Ste9 pathway (
4,
20,
46). As previously reported, Cdc13 was stabilized
when Ste9 was absent in G
1-arrested cells (Fig.
3E and F) (
20).
These results indicate that Cdc13 is stabilized in UbcP1- or
UbcP4-depleted cells at the G
1 phase. Thus, we concluded that
two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, UbcP1 and UbcP4, are directly
required for the degradation of Cdc13.
Construction of a temperature-sensitive ubcP1 mutant strain.
To analyze the function(s) of UbcP1 in detail, we constructed
a temperature-sensitive
ubcP1 mutant strain. We changed Pro-61
to Ser in the
ubcP1+ gene in analogy with the same change at
position 71 in
cdc34-1, a temperature-sensitive mutation of
the budding yeast gene encoding one of the ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes, Ubc3/Cdc34 (
8). This allele was designated
ubcP1-P61S.
To replace the chromosomal region of wild-type
ubcP1 with the
ubcP1-P61S fragment,
ubcP1-P61S was tagged with a
ura4+ fragment
and transformed into wild-type strain JY741. Some of the transformants,
which were selected as a uracil autotroph, showed temperature-sensitive
growth (Fig.
4A). Homologous recombination was verified by Southern
blotting (data not shown). Backcrossing experiments resulted
in the cosegregation of uracil autotrophy and a temperature-sensitive
phenotype (data not shown). The temperature sensitivity was
rescued by introduction of pREP81-ubcP1 (Fig.
4B). Thus, we
designated this mutant strain ubcP1-P61S. The phenotype of this
strain at a nonpermissive temperature resembled that of UbcP1-depleted
cells (data not shown).
Independent functions of UbcP1 and UbcP4.
The fission yeast mutants lacking UbcP1 or UbcP4 activity showed
Cdc13 stabilization. One reason for this may be that the defect
in one of these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes led to a decrease
in the total activity of ubiquitin conjugation to Cdc13. Another
reason may be that the two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes have
distinct functions in the degradation of Cdc13. To test these
two possibilities, we investigated whether overexpression of
UbcP4 rescued the temperature sensitivity of the ubcP1-P61S
mutant and whether overexpression of UbcP1 rescued the temperature
sensitivity of the ubcP4-140 mutant (
27). Ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes expressed from the strongest
nmt1 promoter on pREP1
were somewhat toxic for cells (data not shown) (
17). Thus, we
used pREP41 harboring the modest
nmt1 promoter for expression
of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. As shown in Fig.
5A and B,
expression of UbcP4 did not rescue the temperature-sensitive
phenotype of the ubcP1-P61S mutant and overexpression of UbcP1
did not rescue the temperature-sensitive phenotype of the ubcP4-140
mutant. Furthermore, the accumulation of Cdc13 in strain ubcP1-P61S
cells was not repressed by overexpression of UbcP4 (Fig.
5C).
These results suggest that the functions of UbcP1 and UbcP4
in the degradation of Cdc13 are different.
The functions of both UbcP1 and UbcP4 are required for the activity of APC/CSte9.
The next question is whether these two ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes function with APC/C. To clarify this question, we examined
the requirements of two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes for the
degradation of Cdc13 by overexpression of Ste9. Overexpression
of Ste9 caused unregulated activation of APC/C
Ste9 and degradation
of Cdc13 (
4,
20). As shown in Fig.
6, in wild-type cells, Cdc13
disappeared at 18 to 21 h concomitantly with accumulation of
Ste9. In contrast, Cdc13 remained at significant levels in ubcP1-P61S
and ubcP4-140 mutant cells although Ste9 accumulated at the
same rate as in wild-type cells. As a control, we examined the
requirement of APC/C component Cut9 for the degradation of Cdc13
by overexpression of Ste9. Cdc13 remained at significant levels
in cut9-665 mutant cells although Ste9 accumulated. These results
suggest that the functions of both UbcP1 and UbcP4 are required
for the activity of APC/C
Ste9.
The two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes have distinct functions in the ubiquitination of Cdc13.
To assess the functional difference between these two ubiquitin-conjugating
enzymes, we examined the in vivo ubiquitination level of Cdc13
in each mutant cell. For this purpose, we used an
mts2-1 mutation
in which ubiquitinated proteins were stable owing to the defective
proteasome subunit (
11). Cdc13-HA6His was expressed in mts2,
mts2ubcP1-P61S, and mts2ubcP4-140 mutant cells and in wild-type
cells. At 4 h after a shift to 36°C, Cdc13-HA6His was purified
in a denatured condition. The purified proteins were analyzed
by Western blotting (Fig.
7). When blotted with an antiubiquitin
monoclonal antibody, the signal of ubiquitinated Cdc13 was extremely
reduced in mts2ubcP1-P61S and mts2ubcP4-140 mutant cells compared
with that in mts2 mutant cells (Fig.
7A). This result indicates
that the number of ubiquitin molecules on Cdc13 decreases in
mts2ubcP1-P61S and mts2ubcP4-140 mutant cells. Thus, UbcP1 and
UbcP4 are involved in the ubiquitination of Cdc13 in vivo. When
analyzed with an anti-HA antibody (Fig.
7B, left side), almost
the same amount of Cdc13 was expressed; notably, in the mts2ubcP1-P61S
mutant strain, a slowly migrating form of Cdc13 was more clearly
detected than in other cells.
To analyze the ubiquitinated state of Cdc13 in these mutants
in more detail, the same samples were analyzed with monoclonal
antibodies FK1 and FK2, each of which recognizes a specific
structure of ubiquitinated proteins (
9). FK1 was originally
isolated as the monoclonal antibody that reacted to polyubiquitinated
lysozyme but did not react to monoubiquitinated lysozyme and
free ubiquitin molecules. Thus, this antibody has been thought
to recognize the molecular structure of the isopeptide bond
between a C terminus of the ubiquitin molecule and the lysine
residue of another ubiquitin molecule (
9). Thus, the intensity
of the signal recognized by FK1 reflects the number and length
of ubiquitin chains and reflects a multiply ubiquitinated state
of target proteins. When the same samples were blotted with
the FK1 antibody (Fig.
7B, middle), in mts2 mutant cells, multiubiquitinated
proteins were detected at significant levels. In contrast, in
mts2ubcP4-140 mutant cells, the multiubiquitinated protein signal
was decreased to the level detected in mts2 mutant cells with
the empty vector (compare lane 4 with lane 1 [mts2 empty vector]).
We think that these background signals in lanes 1 and 4 are
polyubiquitinated proteins that were nonspecifically purified
by Ni-NTA beads. In mts2ubcP1-P61S mutant cells, the multiubiquitinated
protein signal was significantly reduced. Interestingly, in
this strain, the small molecular size of the ubiquitinated signal
increased. The reason that the background signals were not seen
in this lane is that multiubiquitinated proteins were totally
eliminated from
ubcP1-deficient cells (see Fig.
8). These results
suggest that in
ubcP1-deficient cells, the ubiquitin chains
on Cdc13 are short; on the other hand, in
ubcP4-deficient cells,
ubiquitination of Cdc13 is totally defective. To address this
idea, we used another monoclonal antibody, FK2 (Fig.
7B, right
side). FK2 was isolated as a monoclonal antibody that detected
both mono- and polyubiquitinated lysozymes but did not react
to free ubiquitin molecules. As judged by the recognition pattern
of this antibody, FK2 has been thought to recognize the structure
around the isopeptide bond between the C terminus of a ubiquitin
molecule and the lysine residue of the substrate (
9). Thus,
the intensity of the signal recognized by FK2 reflects only
the number of ubiquitin chains formed on the substrate. The
fast-migrating (low-molecular-weight) ubiquitinated proteins
accumulated more in mts2ubcP1-P61S cells than in mts2 cells.
On the other hand, ubiquitinated proteins were totally reduced
in mts2ubcP4-140 cells. These results indicate that the two
ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes have distinct functions in the
ubiquitination of Cdc13.
To address the distinct roles of UbcP1 and UbcP4 further, we
examined the ubiquitinated state in total protein samples (Fig.
8). Whole-cell extract was prepared from mts2 cells completely
depleted of each ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme. As analyzed with
FK1, the amount of multiubiquitinated proteins was reduced in
UbcP1-depleted cells (Fig.
8A). In contrast, the number of ubiquitin
chains detected by FK2 was not reduced in the same mutant cells
(Fig.
8B). These results indicate that UbcP1 is required for
the multiubiquitination of most target proteins and that in
the absence of UbcP1, ubiquitin chains are formed but most of
them are short. In UbcP4-depleted cells, the pattern of ubiquitinated
proteins detected by FK1 and FK2 is almost the same as that
in mts2 cells. Thus, these results suggest that, in contrast
to UbcP1, UbcP4 is highly specific for certain proteins, including
Cdc13, since the ubiquitination defect of a few proteins has
no effect on the amount of total ubiquitinated proteins.

DISCUSSION
In a biochemical analysis of
Xenopus and clam oocyte extracts,
the ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes involved in the ubiquitination
of mitotic cyclin were revealed to be UBC4 and UBCx/E2-C (
2,
50). However, the functional difference and relationship between
these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes have not been elucidated.
This is the first report indicating that the homologues of these
two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes have distinct biological functions
in the ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin.
We previously reported that ubcP4+ is essential for progression of mitosis (32). Cdc13 accumulates in UbcP4-depleted cells. Overexpression of UbcP4 partially rescues cut9-665, a temperature-sensitive mutation in one of the APC/C components (34). Cells harboring both the ubcP4-140 and cut9-665 mutations exhibit a synergistic effect on temperature sensitivity (our unpublished data). These results suggest a functional relationship between UbcP4 and APC/C. However, we did not show that UbcP4 is directly involved in the ubiquitination of Cdc13.
Here we show that ubcP1+ is also essential for progression of mitosis. Cdc13 is stabilized in UbcP1- or UbcP4-depleted cells arrested at the G1 phase. Cdc13 degradation mediated by APC/CSte9 activity requires the functions of these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. The patterns of ubiquitination of Cdc13 are different in the mutant cells of these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. These results suggest that UbcP1 and UbcP4 are directly involved in the ubiquitination of Cdc13 with APC/C in a nonredundant fashion in vivo.
We show that the activity of APC/CSte9 depends on the functions of UbcP1 and UbcP4. These results indicate that these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes function with APC/CSte9. However, Ste9/Srw1 functions as an activator of APC/C for Cdc13 ubiquitination during the G1 phase and its function is not required during the metaphase-anaphase transition (4, 20, 46, 47). On the other hand, Slp1 is thought to be an activator of APC/C for ubiquitination of Cdc13 during the mitotic transition (25). slp1-deficient cells exhibit abnormal mitosis, which resembles the phenotype of ubcP1- or ubcP4-deficient cells. We found that the functions of both UbcP1 and UbcP4 are required at mitosis in exponentially growing cells. Furthermore, we found that Cdc13 accumulated in exponentially growing asynchronous UbcP1-depleted (Fig. 2) or UbcP4-depleted (32) cells. Our findings suggest that these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes are also required for the ubiquitination of Cdc13 by the APC/CSlp1 pathway.
What, then, is the functional difference between UbcP1 and UbcP4 in Cdc13 degradation? In both ubcP1- and ubcP4-deficient cells, polyubiquitination and degradation of Cdc13 are defective. The ubiquitin chains on Cdc13 are short in ubcP1-deficient (and ubcP4-functional) cells. This low-molecular-weight ubiquitination is achieved by the UbcP4 pathway because ubiquitinated Cdc13 is totally reduced in UbcP4-deficient cells. A possible explanation for these results is that the polyubiquitination of Cdc13 is a two-step reaction; i.e., the UbcP4 pathway initiates ubiquitination of Cdc13, and the UbcP1-pathway elongates the short ubiquitin chains on Cdc13. This idea is consistent with the finding that UBC4 is more processive than UBCx for ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin in a biochemical analysis of Xenopus oocyte extract (40, 50). In Xenopus oocyte extract, two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, UBC4 and UBCx, were found to function with ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1 and APC/C for ubiquitination of the mitotic cyclin. Furthermore, a ubiquitination reaction involving UBC4 lengthens the ubiquitin chains on mitotic cyclin more than does the reaction involving UBCx. However, in this system, only one ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, UBC4 or UBCx, is required for the ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin. In contrast, according to our findings, efficient polyubiquitination of mitotic cyclin requires both ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, UbcP1 and UbcP4, at least in fission yeast. One possible mechanism is that Cdc13 is initially ubiquitinated by a complex containing APC/C and UbcP4, ubiquitinated Cdc13 is transferred to another complex containing APC/C and UbcP1, and ubiquitin chains are elongated. Another possibility is that APC/C, UbcP4, and UbcP1 exist in the same complex. Thus, the initiation and elongation reactions are achieved by the same complex by UbcP4 and UbcP1, respectively. Whether the two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes exist in the same complex or not is unknown because we could not identify the interaction between the ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes and the APC/C component in vivo in fission yeast. We cannot rule out the possibility that UbcP1 interacts and functions with another ubiquitin ligase (for example, elongation E3). However, our results do not rule out the possibility that the two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes cooperate in the ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin. Another possibility is that the localizations of these two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes are different and that differently localized Cdc13 proteins differ in accessibility as well.
What is the biological significance of a two-step reaction model of the ubiquitination of mitotic cyclin? The timing of the degradation of mitotic cyclin is important for genomic stability. For example, unregulated inactivation of Cdc2 kinase in fission yeast causes overreplication (5, 12). In budding yeast, unregulated inactivation of Cdk kinase activity by overproduction of Sic1 and Rum1 also causes unregulated replication (35). In mammals, polyploidization of megakaryocytic cell lines is associated with reduced levels of cyclin B1 protein (52). Thus, tight regulation of mitotic cyclin degradation is required for the prevention of unregulated degradation of mitotic cyclin and overreplication of DNA.
In the case of securin protein Cut2, the timing of degradation is also important for accurate segregation of chromosomes (49). UbcP1 and UbcP4 may be required for the degradation of Cut2 because chromosome segregation is defective in both ubcP1- and ubcP4-deficient cells. It is important to examine whether the two ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes are also required in the ubiquitination of Cut2 as they are in the ubiquitination of Cdc13.
Budding yeast UBC4/5 and UBC11 are homologues of ubcP1+ and ubcP4+, respectively. UBC4/5- and/or UBC11-deficient strains of budding yeast did not have significant phenotypes. In these cells, mitotic cyclin Clb2 also does not stabilize (42). We suppose that this difference reflects the difference of functional redundancy of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes between budding yeast and fission yeast. It is not clear whether other organisms, such as mammals, have adopted the functional redundancy of fission yeast. However, our results strongly suggest that research related to the functions of ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes in fission yeast is strongly advantageous for studying the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Sergio Moreno for providing the anti-Ste9 antibody,
Frederique Gaits for the plasmid pINV1-spc1-HA6His, Colin Gordon
for strain mts2, Mitsuhiro Yanagida for strain cut9-665, and
Kenji Kitamura for strain cdc10ste9. We also thank Akira Ishihama,
Susumu Hirose, Shigeo Hayashi, and Hitoshi Ueda for their discussion.
Part of this workk was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Mutagenesis, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan. Phone: 81-55-981-6750. Fax: 81-55-981-6751. E-mail:
hseino{at}lab.nig.ac.jp.


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Molecular and Cellular Biology, May 2003, p. 3497-3505, Vol. 23, No. 10
0270-7306/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.23.10.3497-3505.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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