The reverse, but coordinated, roles of Tor2 (TORC1) and Tor1 (TORC2) kinases for growth, cell cycle and separase-mediated mitosis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Target of rapamycin complexes (TORCs), which are vital for nutrient utilization, contain a catalytic subunit with the phosphatidyl inositol kinase-related kinase (PIKK) motif. TORC1 is required for cell growth, while the functions of TORC2 are less well understood. We show here that the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe TORC2 has a cell cycle role through determining the proper timing of Cdc2 Tyr15 dephosphorylation and the cell size under limited glucose, whereas TORC1 restrains mitosis and opposes securin–separase, which are essential for chromosome segregation. These results were obtained using the previously isolated TORC1 mutant tor2-L2048S in the phosphatidyl inositol kinase (PIK) domain and a new TORC2 mutant tor1-L2045D, which harbours a mutation in the same site. While mutated TORC1 and TORC2 displayed diminished kinase activity and FKBP12/Fkh1-dependent rapamycin sensitivity, their phenotypes were nearly opposite in mitosis. Premature mitosis and the G2–M delay occurred in TORC1 and TORC2 mutants, respectively. Surprisingly, separase/cut1—securin/cut2 mutants were rescued by TORC1/tor2-L2048S mutation or rapamycin addition or even Fkh1 deletion, whereas these mutants showed synthetic defect with TORC2/tor1-L2045D. TORC1 and TORC2 coordinate growth, mitosis and cell size control, such as Wee1 and Cdc25 do for the entry into mitosis.