The focal adhesion-associated signaling protein HEF1 undergoes a striking relocalization to the spindle at mitosis, but a function for HEF1 in mitotic signaling has not been demonstrated. We here report that overexpression of HEF1 leads to failure of cells to progress through cytokinesis, whereas depletion of HEF1 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) leads to defects earlier in M phase before cleavage furrow formation. These defects can be explained mechanistically by our determination that HEF1 regulates the activation cycle of RhoA. Inactivation of RhoA has long been known to be required for cytokinesis, whereas it has recently been determined that activation of RhoA at the entry to M phase is required for cellular rounding. We find that increased HEF1 sustains RhoA activation, whereas depleted HEF1 by siRNA reduces RhoA activation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that chemical inhibition of RhoA is sufficient to reverse HEF1-dependent cellular arrest at cytokinesis. Finally, we demonstrate that HEF1 associates with the RhoA-GTP exchange factor ECT2, an orthologue of the Drosophila cytokinetic regulator Pebble, providing a direct means for HEF1 control of RhoA. We conclude that HEF1 is a novel component of the cell division control machinery and that HEF1 activity impacts division as well as cell attachment signaling events.
INTRODUCTIONAs points of structural linkage between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the intracellular cytoskeleton, focal adhesions possess a complex function. For example, during migration, cells must rapidly break down and reform adhesions with the ECM, providing force for propulsion (Lauffenburger and Horwitz, 1996). At mitotic entry, cultured cells round up and decrease adhesion to the ECM; at mitotic exit, basal attachments reassemble and contribute to the force generation required for efficient progress through cytokinesis and reentry into G 1 . In interphase cells, the formation of novel focal adhesion-ECM interactions can specify cellular differentiation by activating specific signaling cascades culminating in the induction of differentiationpromoting transcription factors, and in parallel enforce removal from the cell cycle (Boudreau and Bissell, 1998). In many cell types, sustained loss of adhesion is a sufficient stimulus to induce apoptosis (anoikis) (Frisch and Francis, 1994), a surveillance mechanism against cancer, inhibiting the formation of micrometastases. Hence, one frequent effect of oncogenic transformation is the circumvention of the adhesion-viability coupling, leading to acquisition by cancer cells of the ability to grow in an anchorage-independent manner (Schwartz, 1997). Based on these diverse biological roles, there has been considerable research effort directed at elucidating the signaling role of focal adhesion-associated proteins (Schlaepfer et al., 1999).HEF1, p130Cas, and Efs/Sin define the Cas family of proteins Bouton et al., 2001). In interphase cells, Cas proteins predominantly localize to focal adhesions. During initial integrin engagement, induced by cell a...