Biology Open (Feb 2015)

Plk4-dependent phosphorylation of STIL is required for centriole duplication

  • Anne-Sophie Kratz,
  • Felix Bärenz,
  • Kai T. Richter,
  • Ingrid Hoffmann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.201411023
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 3
pp. 370 – 377

Abstract

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Duplication of centrioles, namely the formation of a procentriole next to the parental centriole, is regulated by the polo-like kinase Plk4. Only a few other proteins, including STIL (SCL/TAL1 interrupting locus, SIL) and Sas-6, are required for the early step of centriole biogenesis. Following Plk4 activation, STIL and Sas-6 accumulate at the cartwheel structure at the initial stage of the centriole assembly process. Here, we show that STIL interacts with Plk4 in vivo. A STIL fragment harboring both the coiled-coil domain and the STAN motif shows the strongest binding affinity to Plk4. Furthermore, we find that STIL is phosphorylated by Plk4. We identified Plk4-specific phosphorylation sites within the C-terminal domain of STIL and show that phosphorylation of STIL by Plk4 is required to trigger centriole duplication.

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