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KOÇ UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SCIENCES & ENGINEERING
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
MS THESIS DEFENSE BY ERDEM ŞANAL
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Title: Quantitative and Network Analysis of Cytokinesis Specific Phosphoproteins
Speaker: Erdem Şanal
Time: August 22, 2017, 11:00
Place: ENG 208
Koç University
Rumeli Feneri Yolu
Sariyer, Istanbul
Thesis Committee Members:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Nurhan Özlü (Advisor, Koc University)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Koca Çaydaşı (Koc University)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Nurcan Tunçbağ (Middle East Technical University)
Abstract:
Nuclear division (mitosis) phosphorylation events have been characterized extensively however phosphorylation events taking place during cytoplasmic division (cytokinesis) specific phosphoproteins and responsible kinases are not well characterized. Our mass spectrometry analysis revealed ~1500 phosphorylation events that are specific to cytokinesis. We identified responsible kinases that are active during cytokinesis using a kinase-substrate prediction algorithm on our dataset. Including previously known cell cycle regulator kinases such as MAPK, CDK1/2 and Aurora, total 31 kinases were predicted to be active during cytokinesis. We also identified phosphorylation sites that are only present during cytokinesis in MKI67 protein which is previously reported as a proliferation marker. MKI67 localizes to chromosomes during mitosis, acting as a surfactant preventing chromosome condensation. These phosphorylation sites are found in N terminus successive repeat domains with unknown function. We suggest that cytokinesis specific phosphorylation of MKI67 might be important for its function in cell division during cytoplasmic division.