APC-mediated proteolysis of Ase 1 and the morphogenesis of the mitotic spindle

The molecular mechanisms that link cell-cycle controls to the mitotic apparatus are poorly understood. A component of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae spindle, Ase1, was observed to undergo cell cycle-specific degradation mediated by the cyclosome, or anaphase promoting complex (APC). Ase1 was degraded when cells exited from mitosis and entered G(1). Inappropriate expression of stable Ase1 during G(1) produced a spindle defect that is sensed by the spindle assembly checkpoint. In addition, loss of ASE1 function destabilized telophase spindles, and expression of a nondegradable Ase1 mutant delayed spindle disassembly. APC-mediated proteolysis therefore appears to regulate both spindle assembly and disassembly.