Aberrant quantity and localization of Aurora-B/AIM-1 and survivin during megakaryocyte polyploidization and the consequences of Aurora-B/AIM-1-deregulated expression.

Megakaryocytes skip late anaphase and cytokinesis during endomitosis. We found normal expression and localization of a fundamental regulator of mitosis, Aurora-B/AIM-1, during prophase in polyploidizing mouse bone marrow megakaryocytes. At late anaphase, however, Aurora-B/AIM-1 is absent or mislocalized. Megakaryocytes treated with a proteasome inhibitor display Aurora-B/AIM-1 properly expressed and localized to the midzone, suggesting that protein degradation contributes to this atypical appearance. In contrast, survivin, an Aurora-B/AIM-1 coregulator of mitosis, is not detected at any stage of the endomitotic cell cycle, and in most megakaryocytes proteasome inhibition does not rescue this phenotype. To further explore the importance of reduced Aurora-B/AIM-1 for polyploidization, it was overexpressed in megakaryocytes of transgenic mice. The phenotype includes increased transgenic mRNA, but not protein, in polyploidy megakaryocytes, further suggesting that Aurora-B/AIM-1 is regulated at the protein level. Aurora-B/AIM-1 protein is, however, elevated in diploid transgenic megakaryocytes. Transgenic mice also exhibit enhanced numbers of megakaryocytes with increased proliferative potential, and some mice exhibit mild decreases in ploidy level. Hence, the molecular programming involved in endomitosis is characterized by the mislocalization or absence of at least 2 critical mitotic regulators, Aurora-B/AIM-1 and survivin. Future studies will examine the impact of survivin restoration on mouse megakaryocyte polyploidization.