The Aurora kinase Ipl1 is necessary for spindle pole body cohesion during budding yeast meiosis.

In budding yeast, the microtubule-organizing center is called the spindle pole body (SPB) and shares structural components with the centriole, the central core of the animal centrosome. During meiotic interphase I, the SPB is duplicated when DNA replication takes place. Duplicated SPBs are linked and then separate to form a bipolar spindle required for homolog separation in meiosis I. During interphase II, SPBs are duplicated again, in the absence of DNA replication, to form four SPBs that establish two spindles for sister-chromatid separation in meiosis II. Here, we report that the Aurora kinase Ipl1, which is necessary for sister-chromatid cohesion, is also required for maintenance of a tight association between duplicated SPBs during meiosis, which we term SPB cohesion. Premature loss of cohesion leads to SPB overduplication and the formation of multipolar spindles. By contrast, the Polo-like kinase Cdc5 is necessary for SPB duplication and interacts antagonistically with Ipl1 at the meiotic SPB to ensure proper SPB separation. Our data suggest that Ipl1 coordinates SPB dynamics with the two chromosome segregation cycles during yeast meiosis.