Activation of the cdc25C phosphatase in mitotic HeLa cells

Abstract

The cdc2-activator cdc25C was immunoprecipitated from HeLa cell extracts and assayed as tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) using tyrosine-phosphorylated myelin basic protein. The PTP activity was 12-fold higher in immunocomplexes from mitotic (nocodazole-arrested) than from asynchronous cells. This difference is due to enzyme activation, since the same amount of cdc25C was immunodetected in both conditions. However, mitotic cdc25C had M(r) 59,000, while a 56,000-59,000 doublet was detected in immunocomplexes from asynchronous cells. The PTP activity of mitotic cdc25C was decreased by treatment with Phosphatase-2A catalytic subunit (but not with Phosphatase-1), with re-appearance of the 56,000 polypeptide. cdc25C was also found associated with cdc2-p13-Sepharose complex and its PTP activity was 7-fold higher in samples from mitotic than from asynchronous cells. cdc25C and cdc2 co-migrated during gel filtration and the higher activity of mitotic cdc25C was retained through gel filtration.