Fta2, an essential fission yeast kinetochore component, interacts closely with the conserved Mal2 protein.

The fission yeast multiprotein-component Sim4 complex plays a fundamental role in the assembly of a functional kinetochore. It affects centromere association of the histone H3 variant CENP-A as well as kinetochore association of the DASH complex. Here, multicopy suppressor analysis of a mutant version of the Sim4 complex component Mal2 identified the essential Fta2 kinetochore protein, which is required for bipolar chromosome attachment. Kinetochore localization of Mal2 and Fta2 depends on each other, and overexpression of one protein can rescue the phenotype of the mutant version of the other protein. fta2 mal2 double mutants were inviable, implying that the two proteins have an overlapping function. This close interaction with Fta2 is not shared by other Sim4 complex components, indicating the existence of functional subgroups within this complex. The Sim4 complex seems to be assembled in a hierarchical way, because Fta2 is localized correctly in a sim4 mutant. However, Fta2 kinetochore localization is reduced in a spc7 mutant. Spc7, a suppressor of the EB1 family member Mal3, is part of the conserved Ndc80-MIND-Spc7 kinetochore complex.