Separases: biochemistry and function.

Panagiotis N Moschou, Peter V Bozhkov

Journal: Physiologia plantarum 2012;145(1):67-76

PMID: 22121979

Abstract

Tight regulation of cell cycle is of critical importance for eukaryotic biology and is achieved through a combined action of a large number of highly specialized proteins. Separases are evolutionarily conserved caspase-like proteases playing a crucial role in cell cycle regulation, as they execute sister chromatid separation at metaphase to anaphase transition. In contrast to extensively studied yeast and metazoan separases, very little is known about the role of separases in plant biology. Here we describe the molecular mechanisms of separase-mediated chromatid segregation in yeast and metazoan models, discuss new emerging but less-understood functions of separases and highlight major gaps in our knowledge about plant separases.

Address: Department of Plant Biology and Forest Genetics, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden. [email protected]

DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2011.01550.x

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.2011.01550.x

MeSH Terms: Amino Acid Sequence, Anaphase, Cell Cycle Proteins, Chromatids, Conserved Sequence, Endopeptidases, Enzyme Activation, Metaphase, Molecular Sequence Data, Multiprotein Complexes, Nuclear Proteins, Phosphorylation, Plant Proteins, Plants, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Proteolysis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins, Securin, Separase, Yeasts