Live Cell Monitoring of Separase Activity, a Key Enzymatic Reaction for Chromosome Segregation, with Chimeric FRET-Based Molecular Sensor upon Cell Cycle Progression

TL;DR

Scientists created a sensor to monitor separase activity in live cells during mitosis, helping understand chromosome segregation and its role in cancer.

Contribution

A novel FRET-based sensor system for live-cell monitoring of separase activity during cell cycle progression is developed.

Findings

FRET-based sensors effectively detected separase activity in live cells during mitosis.

Both localized and non-localized sensors showed significant separase activity detection.

The system enables detailed study of separase properties and its role in chromosome segregation.

Abstract

Separase is a key cysteine protease in the separation of sister chromatids through the digestion of the cohesin ring that inhibits chromosome segregation as a trigger of the metaphase–anaphase transition in eukaryotes. Its activity is highly regulated by binding with securin and cyclinB-CDK1 complex. These bindings prevent the proteolytic activity of separase until the onset of anaphase. Chromosome missegregation and aneuploidy are frequently observed in malignancies. However, there are some difficulties in biochemical examinations due to the instability of separase in vitro and the fact that few spatiotemporal resolution approaches exist for monitoring live separase activity throughout mitotic processes. Here, we have developed FRET-based molecular sensors, including GFP variants, with separase-cleavable sequences as donors and covalently attached fluorescent dyes as acceptor molecules. These are applicable to conventional live cell imaging and flow cytometric analysis because of efficient live cell uptake. We investigated the performance of equivalent molecular sensors, either localized or not localized inside the nucleus under cell cycle control, using flow cytometry. Synchronized cell cycle progression rendered significant separase activity detections in both molecular sensors. We obtained consistent outcomes with localized molecular sensor introduction and cell cycle control by fluorescent microscopic observations. We thus established live cell separase activity monitoring systems that can be used specifically or statistically, which could lead to the elucidation of separase properties in detail.

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