Letter abstract


Nature Cell Biology 9, 225 - 232 (2006)
Published online: 24 December 2006 | doi:10.1038/ncb1532



There is a Corrigendum (March 2007) associated with this Letter.

Retinoblastoma protein and anaphase-promoting complex physically interact and functionally cooperate during cell-cycle exit

Ulrich K. Binné1, Marie K. Classon1, Frederick A. Dick2, Wenyi Wei3, Michael Rape4, William G. Kaelin, Jr.3,5, Anders M. Näär1,6 & Nicholas J. Dyson1

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The retinoblastoma protein (pRB) negatively regulates the progression from G1 to S phase of the cell cycle, in part, by repressing E2F-dependent transcription1. pRB also possesses E2F-independent functions that contribute to cell-cycle control — for example, during pRB-mediated cell-cycle arrest pRB associates with Skp2, the F-box protein of the Skp1–Cullin–F-box protein (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, and promotes the stability of the cyclin-dependent kinase-inhibitor p27Kip1 through an unknown mechanism2, 3. Degradation of p27Kip1 is mediated by ubiquitin-dependent targeting of p27Kip1 by SCF –Skp2 (ref. 4). Here, we report a novel interaction between pRB and the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) that controls p27Kip1 stability by targeting Skp2 for ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Cdh1, an activator of APC/C, not only interacts with pRB but is also required for a pRB-induced cell-cycle arrest. The results reveal an unexpected physical convergence between the pRB tumour-suppressor protein and E3 ligase complexes, and raise the possibility that pRB may direct APC/C to additional targets during pRB-mediated cell-cycle exit.

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  1. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts, MA 02129, USA.
  2. Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine, London, Ontario N6A 4L6, Canada.
  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, MA 02115, USA.
  4. Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, MA 02115, USA.
  5. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, MA 02115, USA.
  6. Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, MA 02115, USA.

Correspondence to: Nicholas J. Dyson1 e-mail: Dyson@helix.mgh.harvard.edu

Correspondence to: Anders M. Näär1,6 e-mail: Naar@helix.mgh.harvard.edu



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