1. Human Blinkin/AF15q14 Is Required for Chromosome Alignment and the Mitotic Checkpoint through Direct Interaction with Bub1 and BubR1 
Tomomi Kiyomitsu, Chikashi Obuse, Mitsuhiro Yanagida 
Developmental Cell 
Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages (November 2007)
DOI: /j.devcel
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1 AF15q14/Blinkin Interacts with Bubs
(A) Immunoprecipitation of FLAG-tagged hMis12. Cultures of HeLa that stably expressed FLAG-tagged hMis12 were used: asynchronous (AS), double thymidine block (DTB), and nocodazole-arrested (Noc). Control HeLa did not contain FLAG-tagged hMis12. Immunoprecipitates (IP) were assayed by antibodies against FLAG, Bub1, and BubR1.
(B) Yeast 2-hybrid interactions. (See text for details.) Plasmids pGBD and pGAD carried DNA-binding and activating domains of yeast GAL4, respectively. For control, p53 and SV40 T antigen were used.
(C) Two-hybrid interactions between one of BLKN, BLKM, or BLKC and hMis12-interacting proteins were examined.
(D) Positive 3-hybrid interaction of BLKC with hMis13-hMis14.
(E) Immunoblot of HeLa using anti-blinkin antibody.
(F) The blinkin band shifted in nocodazole-blocked (Noc) extracts (left). Following nocodazole block and release (B&R), the band of blinkin returned to the lower position (right).
(G) Antibodies against blinkin and Bub1 were used for immunostaining of HeLa cells. Cells at prometaphase (top) and metaphase (bottom) are shown. The inset is the enlarged merged images. Bar, 10 μm.
(H) Constructs made for blinkin, Bub1, and BubR1 (top). The TPR motif is in red. Blue region is conserved in yeast Mad3. TPR of human (h), mouse (m), S. pombe (sp), and S. cerevisiae (sc) (bottom). Identical and similar residues are boxed and hatched, respectively. TPR consensus (red) and knob-hole association (blue) are also shown. Red arrows indicate residues altered in substitution mutants.
(I) Two-hybrid interactions were examined between blinkin fragments or Bub3 and full-length Bub1 or the fragments as indicated.
(J and K) Two-hybrid interactions were examined between BLKN and Bubs mutants.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
Blinkin RNAi Abolishes Bubs' Kinetochore Signals and Spindle Checkpoint Function
(A) Immunoblot of blinkin in HeLa extracts after RNAi for 0–72 hr (top). Control immunoblot after luciferase RNAi is also shown. The loading control was tubulin. HeLa cells were fixed 24 hr after blinkin or control RNAi (bottom). DNA and blinkin were observed, respectively, by Hoechst and anti-blinkin antibody.
(B) RNAi was performed for blinkin, Bub1, BubR1, and luciferase. Cells were fixed after 24 hr, and stained for DNA, blinkin, Bub1, and BubR1. (See text for details.)
(C) Immunoblot of hMis12, blinkin, Bub1, BubR1, and tubulin (loading control) in the RNAi extracts of luciferase, hMis12, blinkin, Bub1, and BubR1 after 24 and 72 hr (left). Localization of hMis12 and blinkin was diminished after hMis12 RNAi, but not after luciferase RNAi (right).
(D) Frequency of cells that showed accelerated mitosis and abnormal, nonsegregated chromosomes in four different RNAi cells.
(E–H) Frames of movies of HeLa cells that stably expressed histone H2B-GFP that were taken after control (E), blinkin (F), BubR1 (G), and double BubR1 and Bub1 (H) RNAi. Blinkin RNAi cells (F, top two series) started to decondense 20 to 30 min after NEBD faster than control RNAi cells (35–45 min). Luciferase siRNA was used as control. The number indicates the time (min). Bars, 10 μm.
(I) The phenotype of interphase cells 48 hr after control and blinkin RNAi.
(J) Percentage mitotic arrest in control (white), BubR1 (black), and blinkin (red) RNAi cells treated with nocodazole (left, n > 1600) and taxol (right, n > 900) for 18 hr. Error bars represent standard deviation.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

4. Figure 3
Blinkin RNAi Abolishes Kinetochore-kMT Attachment Though Many Centromere/Kinetochore Proteins Remain
(A) Control and blinkin RNAi cells treated with MG132 for 1 hr were fixed and stained with antibodies against tubulin (green) and CENP-C (white), and with Hoechst (magenta). Bar, 10 μm. Enlarged images of the sister kinetochores are shown below. Bar, 1 μm.
(B) Control and blinkin RNAi cells treated with MG132 for 1 hr were incubated in an ice-cold water bath for 10 min. Fixed cells were stained with antibodies against tubulin (green) and CENP-C (white). Several cross-section images taken from the bottom to the top of the cells and stacked are shown.
(C) Results of intracellular localization of eight kinetochore proteins in blinkin RNAi cells are summarized.
(D–F) Blinkin (top) and control (bottom) RNAi cells fixed for 48 hr were stained by antibodies against blinkin and hMis12 (D), against HEC1 and CENP-C (E), and against Zwint-1 and CENP-C (F). Bars, 10 μm.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
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5. Figure 4 BubR1 TPR Mutants Fail to Suppress BubR1 RNAi
(A) Schematized experimental procedures.
(B) Plasmid carrying RNAi-resistant BubR1 was made by site-directed mutagenesis.
(C) Immunoblot of BubR1, GFP, and tubulin in transfected HeLa cells. The band position of RNAi-resistant GFP-BubR1 detected by anti-BubR1 antibody was higher than that of endogenous BubR1. GFP-BubR was detected by anti-GFP antibody, but not by anti-BubR1 antibody because this anti-BubR1 antibody recognizes the amino-terminal region of BubR1 (Taylor et al., 2001).
(D) Time-lapse micrographs of HeLa cells that expressed the wild-type or mutant BubR1 protein (RNAi resistant) after BubR1 RNAi. Bar, 10 μm.
(E) The duration from NEBD to anaphase onset was measured in a number of movies, and the time distributions are plotted.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
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6. Figure 5 Bub1 TPR Mutant Fails to Suppress Bub1 RNAi Cells
(A) Schematized experimental procedures (left). Plasmid carrying RNAi-resistant Bub1 was made by site-directed mutagenesis (right).
(B) Immunoblot of Bub1, GFP, and tubulin in transfected HeLa cells. The position of bands for the RNAi-resistant GFP-Bub1 detected by anti-Bub1 antibody was higher than that for endogenous Bub1.
(C and D) GFP signals (left, only GFP; middle, GFP-Bub1 WT; right, GFP-Bub1 L122G) expressed in HeLa cells were observed after DNA (bottom, magenta) and tubulin (green) staining. Misaligned chromosomes or micronuclei are indicated by the arrows. The proportion (%) of mitotic cells containing misaligned chromosomes (white column) and interphase cells that showed micronuclei or abnormally large nuclei (black column) were measured after Bub1 RNAi (right).
(E) Simultaneous depletion of BubR1 and Bub1 or BubR1 and Bub3 by RNAi was performed after GFP-BubR1 F175G (RNAi-resistant) transfection. DNA and GFP-BubR1 F175G were observed. Bars, 10 μm.
(F) Immunoblot of BubR1, Bub1, Bub3, and tubulin.
(G) The yeast 2-hybrid interactions were examined between the Bub1 and BubR1 WT or BubR1 F175G mutant.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

7. Figure 6
BLKM+C, but Not BLKC, Partly Restores Accelerated Mitosis and Chromosome Misalignment
(A) HeLa cells that expressed GFP-BLKC by transfection were stained with anti-hMis13 antibodies. Kinetochore location of GFP-BLKC was indistinguishable from hMis13 (inset).
(B) The blinkin mutant constructs are shown.
(C) Schematized experimental procedures. HeLa cells were synchronized by a double-thymidine block protocol and transfected with plasmids for 3 hr. siRNA was added at the indicated time point.
(D) Immunoblot of blinkin, GFP, and BubR1 in transfected cells. The bands were produced at the expected MWs.
(E) Summary of the phenotypes in five different RNAi cells.
(F and G) Time-lapse micrographs of HeLa cells in control RNAi (F) or blinkin RNAi (G) are shown.
(H–J) RNAi-resistant full-length BLK (H), truncated BLKC (I), and BLKM+C (J) were expressed in blinkin RNAi cells. Hoechst was used for DNA staining.
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

8. Figure 7
BLKM+C Partly Restores Kinetochore Localization of Bub1 and BubR1 in Blinkin RNAi Cells
(A–C) HeLa cells were treated according to the procedures depicted in Figure 6C, using plasmids and siRNAs indicated. Cells were fixed and stained with Hoechst 33342, antibodies against Zwint-1(A), Bub1(B), or BubR1(C). Cross-section images were deconvolved and stacked (Toyoda and Yanagida, 2006).
(D) A summary cartoon for the interaction linkage map of kinetochore and checkpoint proteins (left). Functionally distinct Bub1 and BubR1 are simultaneously controlled by blinkin through an interaction between the common TPR motif of Bubs and blinkin (right; see text for details).
Developmental Cell  , DOI: ( /j.devcel )
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions