A coordinated kinase and phosphatase network regulates Stu2 recruitment to yeast kinetochores.

Cells coordinate diverse events at anaphase onset, including separase activation, cohesin cleavage, chromosome separation, and spindle reorganization. Regulation of the XMAP215 family member and microtubule polymerase, Stu2, at the metaphase-anaphase transition determines a specific redistribution from kinetochores to spindle microtubules. We show that cells modulate Stu2 kinetochore-microtubule localization by Polo-like kinase1/Cdc5-mediated phosphorylation of T866, near the Stu2 C-terminus, thereby promoting dissociation from the kinetochore Ndc80 complex. Cdk/Cdc28 likely primes Cdc5:Stu2 interaction. Cdc28 activity is also required for Stu2 nuclear import. PP2A(Cdc55) actively opposes Cdc5 activity on Stu2(T866) during metaphase. This counter-regulation allows for switchlike redistribution of Stu2(pT866) at anaphase onset when separase inhibits PP2A(Cdc55). Blocking Stu2(T866) phosphorylation disrupts anaphase spindle progression, and we infer that PP2A(Cdc55) regulates the mitotic spindle by dephosphorylating Stu2 and other MAPs. These data support a model in which increased phosphorylation at anaphase onset results from phosphatase inhibition and point to a larger regulatory network that facilitates rapid cytoskeletal modulation required for anaphase spindle maintenance.