The mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) is formed from two sub-complexes of CDC20-MAD2 and BUBR1-BUB3, and current models suggest that it is generated exclusively by the kinetochores after nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD). However, neither sub-complex has been visualised in vivo, and when and where they are formed during the cell cycle and their response to different SAC conditions remains elusive. Using single cell analysis in HeLa cells, we show that the CDC20-MAD2 complex is cell cycle regulated with a "Bell" shaped profile and peaks at prometaphase. Its formation begins in early prophase before NEBD when the SAC has not been activated. The complex prevents the premature degradation of cyclin B1. Tpr, a component of the NPCs (nuclear pore complexes), facilitates the formation of this prophase form of the CDC20-MAD2 complex but is inactive later in mitosis. Thus, we demonstrate that the CDC20-MAD2 complex could also be formed independently of the SAC. Moreover, in prolonged arrest caused by nocodazole treatment, the overall levels of the CDC20-MAD2 complex are gradually, but significantly, reduced and this is associated with lower levels of cyclin B1, which brings a new insight into the mechanism of mitotic "slippage" of the arrested cells.The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) monitors the faithful segregation of the sister chromatids in mitosis by detecting kinetochore attachment 1,2 . It is believed that there is a diffusible "anaphase wait" signal which is initiated by unattached kinetochores and that even a single kinetochore will generate a sufficiently large signal to delay the metaphase/anaphase transition 3,4 . This signal functions by inhibiting the anaphase promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, which marks key mitotic regulators, such as cyclin B1 (CCNB1) and securin, for destruction and so prevents the premature onset of anaphase 1,5 .It was previously thought that the SAC signal was controlled in an "on" and "off " manner, and that it was activated after nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD) in late prophase or early prometaphase in response to unattached kinetochores, and was then rapidly turned off at the metaphase/anaphase transition 1,2 . The MCC (mitotic checkpoint complex), containing the four proteins BUBR1, BUB3, CDC20 and MAD2, has been widely referred to as the predominant inhibitor of the APC/C at the molecular level, and is probably formed from two sub-complexes, CDC20-MAD2 and BUB3-BUBR1 1,2 . This kinetochore-dependant "on" and "off " mechanism has been challenged by the suggestion that the SAC signal is controlled like a "rheostat switch", where its strength depends on the amount of MAD2 recruited to the kinetochores and on the amount of MCC formed which are determined indirectly either by depletion of MAD2 or inhibition of MPS1 6 . However, despite the MCC playing a central role in SAC function, exactly how the MCC assembly is regulated in terms of the strength of the SAC in normal mitotic progression has yet to be revealed.The primary target of the SAC is CDC20/...