Accurate control of the number of centrosomes, the major microtubule-organizing centers of animal cells, is critical for the maintenance of genome integrity. Abnormalities in centrosome number can promote errors in spindle formation that lead to subsequent chromosome missegregation, and extra centrosomes are found in many cancers. Centrosomes are comprised of a pair of centrioles surrounded by amorphous pericentriolar material, and centrosome duplication is controlled by centriole replication. Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4) plays a key role in initiating centriole duplication, and overexpression of Plk4 promotes centriole overduplication and the formation of extra centrosomes. Using chemical genetics, we show that kinase-active Plk4 is inherently unstable and targeted for degradation. Plk4 is shown to multiply self-phosphorylate within a 24-amino acid phosphodegron. Phosphorylation of multiple sites is required for Plk4 instability, indicating a requirement for a threshold level of Plk4 kinase activity to promote its own destruction. We propose that kinase-mediated, autoregulated instability of Plk4 self-limits Plk4 activity so as to prevent centrosome amplification.

The clinical interest in farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) makes it important to understand how these compounds affect cellular processes involving farnesylated proteins. Mitotic abnormalities observed after treatment with FTIs have so far been attributed to defects in the farnesylation of the outer kinetochore proteins CENP-E and CENP-F, which are involved in chromosome congression and spindle assembly checkpoint signaling. Here we identify the cytoplasmic dynein adaptor Spindly as an additional component of the outer kinetochore that is modified by farnesyltransferase (FTase). We show that farnesylation of Spindly is essential for its localization, and thus for the proper localization of dynein and its cofactor dynactin, to prometaphase kinetochores and that Spindly kinetochore recruitment is more severely affected by FTase inhibition than kinetochore recruitment of CENP-E and CENP-F. Molecular replacement experiments show that both Spindly and CENP-E farnesylation are required for efficient chromosome congression. The identification of Spindly as a new mitotic substrate of FTase provides insight into the causes of the mitotic phenotypes observed with FTase inhibitors.

The expansion of the target landscape of covalent inhibitors requires the engagement of nucleophiles beyond cysteine. Although the conserved catalytic lysine in protein kinases is an attractive candidate for a covalent approach, selectivity remains an obvious challenge. Moreover, few covalent inhibitors have been shown to engage the kinase catalytic lysine in animals. We hypothesized that reversible, lysine-targeted inhibitors could provide sustained kinase engagement in vivo, with selectivity driven in part by differences in residence time. By strategically linking benzaldehydes to a promiscuous kinase binding scaffold, we developed chemoproteomic probes that reversibly and covalently engage >200 protein kinases in cells and mice. Probe-kinase residence time was dramatically enhanced by a hydroxyl group ortho to the aldehyde. Remarkably, only a few kinases, including Aurora A, showed sustained, quasi-irreversible occupancy in vivo, the structural basis for which was revealed by X-ray crystallography. We anticipate broad application of salicylaldehyde-based probes to proteins that lack a druggable cysteine.