Shugoshin promotes efficient activation of spindle assembly checkpoint and timely spindle disassembly

Abstract Shugoshin proteins are evolutionary conserved across eukaryotes with some species-specific cellular functions ensuring the fidelity of chromosome segregation. Shugoshin being present at various subcellular locales, acts as an adaptor to mediate various protein-protein interactions in a spatio-temporal manner. Here, we characterize shugoshin (Sgo1) in the human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans . Interestingly, we discover a novel in vivo localization of Sgo1 along the length of the mitotic spindle. Further, Sgo1 performs a hitherto unknown function of facilitating timely disassembly of spindle in this organism. We observe that Sgo1 retains its centromeric localization and performs its conserved functions that include regulating the centromeric condensin localization, chromosome passenger complex (CPC) maintenance and sister chromatid biorientation. We identify novel roles of Sgo1 as a spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) component with functions in maintaining the SAC proteins, Mad2 and Bub1, at the kinetochores, in response to faulty kinetochore-microtubule attachments. These findings provide an excellent evidence of the functional rewiring of shugoshin in maintaining genomic stability.