Hippo signalling in the G2/M cell cycle phase: Lessons learned from the yeast MEN and SIN pathways

Over the past decade Hippo kinase signalling has been established as an essential tumour suppressor pathway controlling tissue growth in flies and mammals. All members of the Hippo core signalling cassette are conserved from yeast to humans, whereby the yeast analogues of Hippo, Mats and Lats are central components of the mitotic exit network and septation initiation network in budding and fission yeast, respectively. Here, we discuss how far core Hippo signalling components in Drosophila melanogaster and mammals have reported similar mitotic functions as already established for their highly conserved yeast counterparts.

► The core module components of the Hippo pathway are conserved from yeast to humans.
► In metazoans, Hippo tumour suppressor signalling is essential for tissue growth.
► Yeast analogues of Hippo components are essential for mitotic exit and cytokinesis.
► In Drosophila and mammals, some Hippo signalling components have mitotic functions.
► In metazoans, the regulation of mitotic exit is more complex than reported in yeast.