Securin is not required for chromosomal stability in human cells.

Abnormalities of chromosome number are frequently observed in cancers. The mechanisms regulating chromosome segregation in human cells are therefore of great interest. Recently it has been reported that human cells without an hSecurin gene lose chromosomes at a high frequency. Here we show that, aft...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katrin Pfleghaar, Simone Heubes, Jürgen Cox, Olaf Stemmann, Michael R Speicher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2005-12-01
Series:PLoS Biology
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC1287505?pdf=render
Description
Summary:Abnormalities of chromosome number are frequently observed in cancers. The mechanisms regulating chromosome segregation in human cells are therefore of great interest. Recently it has been reported that human cells without an hSecurin gene lose chromosomes at a high frequency. Here we show that, after hSecurin knockout through homologous recombination, chromosome losses are only a short, transient effect. After a few passages hSecurin(-/-) cells became chromosomally stable and executed mitoses normally. This was unexpected, as the securin loss resulted in a persisting reduction of the sister-separating protease separase and inefficient cleavage of the cohesin subunit Scc1. Our data demonstrate that securin is dispensable for chromosomal stability in human cells. We propose that human cells possess efficient mechanisms to compensate for the loss of genes involved in chromosome segregation.
ISSN:1544-9173
1545-7885