PRC1 associates with the hsp70i promoter and interacts with HSF2 during mitosis

Mitosis is a series of events leading to division of a cell by the process known as cytokinesis. Protein regulating cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) is a CDK substrate that associates with the mitotic spindle and functions in microtubule bundling. Previous studies revealed that loss of PRC1 is associated with chromosomal mis-segregation and atypical chromosome alignment. HSF2 is a DNA binding protein that we previously showed bookmarks the hsp70i gene during mitosis, an epigenetic mechanism which allows the hsp70i gene to re-establish transcriptional competence early in G1. Another study demonstrated that HSF2−/− mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) exhibit increased numbers of multinucleated cells vs. wild-type MEFs. This suggests that HSF2 is important for proper cytokinesis, but the mechanism was unknown. Here we report the existence of a direct interaction between HSF2 and PRC1. HSF2 and PRC1 associate during mitosis and co-localize during this phase of the cell cycle. PRC1 does not interact with the related protein HSF1, indicating the specificity of the HSF2-PRC1 interaction. Intriguingly, PRC1 is associated with the hsp70i promoter during mitosis. These results provide a potential mechanistic basis for the defective cytokinesis phenotype exhibited by HSF2−/− cells, as well as suggest a potential role for PRC1 in HSF2-mediated gene bookmarking.