An in vitro assay for Cdc20-dependent mitotic anaphase-promoting complex activity from budding yeast.

Cell cycle transitions are controlled, in part, by ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. In mitosis, the metaphase to anaphase transition is governed by an E3 ubiquitin ligase called the cyclosome or Anaphase-Promoting Complex (APC), and a WD40-repeat protein co-factor called Cdc20. In vitro Cdc20-dependent APC (APC(Cdc20)) assays have been useful in the identification and validation of target substrates, and in the study of APC enzymology and regulation. Many aspects of the regulation of cell cycle progression have been discovered in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and proteins purified from this model organism have been employed in a wide variety of in vitro assays. Here we outline a quantitative in vitro mitotic APC(Cdc20) assay that makes use of a highly active form of the APC that is purified from budding yeast cells arrested in mitosis.