Yang M, Li B, Liu CJ, Tomchick DR, Machius M, Rizo J, Yu H, Luo X. Insights into mad2 regulation in the spindle checkpoint revealed by the crystal structure of the symmetric mad2 dimer. PLOS BIOLOGY 6(3):e50, 2008

Abstract In response to misaligned sister chromatids during mitosis, the spindle checkpoint protein Mad2 inhibits the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C) through binding to its mitotic activator Cdc20, thus delaying anaphase onset. Mad1, an upstream regulator of Mad2, forms a tight core complex with Mad2 and facilitates Mad2 binding to Cdc20. In the absence of its binding proteins, free Mad2 has two natively folded conformers, termed N1-Mad2/open-Mad2 (O-Mad2) and N2-Mad2/closed Mad2 (C-Mad2), with C-Mad2 being more active in APC/C(Cdc20) inhibition. Here, we show that whereas O-Mad2 is monomeric, C-Mad2 forms either symmetric C-Mad2-C-Mad2 (C-C) or asymmetric O-Mad2-C-Mad2 (O-C) dimers. We also report the crystal structure of the symmetric C-C Mad2 dimer, revealing the basis ......