Effect of microinjected calcium-calmodulin on mitosis in PtK2 cells

Calcium and calmodulin are believed to play a significant role in the regulation of mitosis, because they are both localized in the mitotic spindle and because they can potentiate microtubule depolymerization in the test tube and in the living cell. It has been hypothesized, specifically, that calcium-saturated calmodulin drives the shortening of the kinetochore microtubules that must occur during prometaphase, when the chromosomes congress to the metaphase plate, and during anaphase A, when the half-spindles shorten. We have examined the role of calmodulin in mitosis by observing the consequences of calmodulin microinjection on the progress of mitosis and morphology of the mitotic spindle in PtK2 cells. We have found that the injection of excess calcium-saturated calmodulin during early prometaphase significantly prolongs the time required for the cell to go into anaphase, and that neither calcium-depleted calmodulin nor buffer alone produce a similar perturbation. Calcium ion alone produces a similar but much smaller retardation of mitosis. Immunofluorescence and fluorescent analogue cytochemical studies of spindle morphology reveal that the immediate (less than 5-min) effect of calcium-saturated calmodulin on prometaphase spindles is a significant shortening of the kinetochore fibers and "interpolar" microtubules but not the astral microtubules. After this perturbation, however, the spindle quickly recovers its normal form. An equivalent transient shortening of the spindle fibers is seen following the injection of calcium chloride solutions but not after the injection of calcium-depleted calmodulin or buffer alone. Taken together, these observations suggest that calcium-saturated calmodulin plays a significant role in the regulation of mitosis, and that this regulatory pathway involves more than spindle fiber shortening.