Abstract:
The end of mitosis is marked by a duplication of cellular DNA, segregation of chromosomes to opposite sides of the mitotic spindle, and proper alignment of the spindle within the dividing cell. If any of these events are not completed properly, the mitotic exit network delays cytokinesis. Most cancerous cells and some other human diseases are marked by aneuploidy, an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell. Questions remain in cell biology: how does the cell prevent aneuploidy, and how can these features be exploited to cure cancer? Likewise, a similar question is asked in the area of chemical biology: how do regulatory proteins detect and prevent these errors from occurring? As key player in cell cycle control, Cdc14p is the regulatory protein that once activated, promotes the cell to exit from mitosis and begin cytokinesis. The goals of the research project are to express the CDC14 gene to make the mitotic phosphatase Cdc14p, to purify the protein using traditional and affinity purification techniques, and to test the activity of the protein in a fluorescence assay.
