The E3 ligase APC/CCdh1promotes ubiquitylation-mediated proteolysis of PAX3 to suppress melanocyte proliferation and melanoma growth

One does not often look to analytic cubism for insights into the control of the cell cycle, but Pablo Picasso beautifully encapsulated the fundamentals when he said that "every act of creation is, first of all, an act of destruction". The rapid destruction of specific cell cycle regulators at just the right moment in the cell cycle ensures that daughter cells receive an equal and identical set of chromosomes from their mother and that DNA replication always follows mitosis. Remarkably, one protein complex is responsible for this surgical precision, the APC/C (anaphase-promoting complex, also known as the cyclosome). The APC/C is tightly regulated by its co-activators and by the spindle assembly checkpoint.

The anaphase promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C) is a ubiquitin protein ligase that, together with Cdc20 or Cdh1, targets cell-cycle proteins for degradation. APC/C-Cdh1 specifically promotes protein degradation in late mitosis and G1. Mutant embryos lacking Cdh1 die at E9.5-E10.5 due to defects in the endoreduplication of trophoblast cells and placental malfunction. This lethality is prevented when Cdh1 is expressed in the placenta. Cdh1-deficient cells proliferate inefficiently and accumulate numeric and structural chromosomal aberrations, indicating that Cdh1 contributes to the maintenance of genomic stability. Cdh1 heterozygous animals show increased susceptibility to spontaneous tumours, suggesting that Cdh1 functions as a haploinsufficient tumour suppressor. These heterozygous mice also show several defects in behaviour associated with increased proliferation of stem cells in the nervous system. These results indicate that Cdh1 is required for preventing unscheduled proliferation of specific progenitor cells and protecting mammalian cells from genomic instability.

The appropriate timing of events that lead to chromosome segregation during mitosis and cytokinesis is essential to prevent aneuploidy, and defects in these processes can contribute to tumorigenesis. Key mitotic regulators are controlled through ubiquitylation and proteasome-mediated degradation. The APC/C (anaphase-promoting complex; also known as the cyclosome) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has a crucial function in the regulation of the mitotic cell cycle, particularly at the onset of anaphase and during mitotic exit. Co-activator proteins, inhibitor proteins, protein kinases and phosphatases interact with the APC/C to temporally and spatially control its activity and thus ensure accurate timing of mitotic events.