MDM2 functions as a timer reporting the length of mitosis

Delays in mitosis trigger p53-dependent arrest in G1 of the next cell cycle, thus preventing repeated cycles of chromosome instability and aneuploidy. Here we show that MDM2, the p53 ubiquitin ligase, is a key component of the timer mechanism triggering G1 arrest in response to prolonged mitosis. This timer function arises due to the attenuation of protein synthesis in mitosis. Because MDM2 has a short half-life and ongoing protein synthesis is therefore necessary to maintain its steady-state concentration, the amount of MDM2 gradually falls during mitosis but normally remains above a critical threshold for p53 regulation at the onset of G1. When mitosis is extended by prolonged spindle assembly checkpoint activation, the amount of MDM2 drops below this threshold, stabilizing p53. Subsequent p53-dependent p21 accumulation then channels G1 cells into a sustained cell-cycle arrest, whereas abrogation of the response in p53-deficient cells allows them to bypass this crucial defence mechanism. Fulcher et al. show that MDM2 times mitosis through self-catalysed ubiquitination and proteasomal destruction, triggering G1 arrest following delays in mitosis associated with chromosome instability and aneuploidy.