Acentriolar mitosis activates a p53-dependent apoptosis pathway in the mouse embryo

Acentrosomal Drosophila epithelial cells exhibit abnormal cell division, leading to cell death and compensatory proliferation

Mitotic spindles are critical for accurate chromosome segregation. Centrosomes, the primary microtubule nucleating centers of animal cells, play key roles in forming and orienting mitotic spindles. However, the survival of Drosophila without centrosomes suggested they are dispensable in somatic cells, challenging the canonical view. We used fly wing disc epithelia as a model to resolve these conflicting hypotheses, revealing that centrosomes play vital roles in spindle assembly, function, and orientation. Many acentrosomal cells exhibit prolonged spindle assembly, chromosome missegregation, DNA damage, misoriented divisions, and eventual apoptosis. We found that multiple mechanisms buffer the effects of centrosome loss, including alternative microtubule nucleation pathways and the spindle assembly checkpoint. Apoptosis of acentrosomal cells is mediated by JNK signaling, which also drives compensatory proliferation to maintain tissue integrity and viability. These data reveal the importance of centrosomes in fly epithelia and demonstrate the robust compensatory mechanisms at the cellular and organismal level.

Stabilization of cartwheel-less centrioles for duplication requires CEP295-mediated centriole-to-centrosome conversion

Vertebrate centrioles lose their geometric scaffold, the cartwheel, during mitosis, concurrently with gaining the ability to recruit the pericentriolar material (PCM) and thereby function as the centrosome. Cartwheel removal has recently been implicated in centriole duplication, but whether "cartwheel-less" centrioles are intrinsically stable or must be maintained through other modifications remains unclear. Here, we identify a newborn centriole-enriched protein, KIAA1731/CEP295, specifically mediating centriole-to-centrosome conversion but dispensable for cartwheel removal. In the absence of CEP295, centrioles form in the S/G2 phase and lose their associated cartwheel in mitosis but cannot be converted to centrosomes, uncoupling the two events. Strikingly, centrioles devoid of both the PCM and the cartwheel progressively lose centriolar components, whereas centrioles associating with either the cartwheel or PCM alone can exist stably. Thus, cartwheel removal can have grave repercussions to centriole stability, and centriole-to-centrosome conversion mediated by CEP295 must occur in parallel to maintain cartwheel-less centrioles for duplication.