MCAK/Kif2C centromeric activity level tunes K-fiber turnover through distinct pathways

Summary MCAK/Kif2C is a microtubule-depolymerizing kinesin implicated in the correction of chromosome attachment errors. When eliminated from kinetochores, cells exhibit delayed congression and a modest increase in chromosome missegregation. Curiously, MCAK/Kif2C overexpression (OE) promotes these same defects. Both depletion and excess levels of centromeric MCAK/Kif2C increase acetylated tubulin levels in the spindle, suggesting an increase in k-fiber stability. We conclude that this is the likely mechanism for the increase in chromosome segregation errors observed in both of these antagonistic conditions. Reduced MCAK/Kif2C increased the tubulin ratio on the two faces of the kinetochore, suggesting a greater likelihood of erroneous lateral MT interactions. In contrast, excess MCAK/Kif2C reduced the tubulin ratio at the kinetochore, stabilizing end-on MT interactions that increase the IKD and ultimately culminate in excessive stabilization of K-fiber microtubules. Both of these conditions promote chromosome segregation errors.