Budding yeast Wee1 distinguishes spindle pole bodies to guide their pattern of age-dependent segregation.

Many asymmetrically dividing cells unequally partition cellular structures according to age. Yet, it is unclear how cells differentiate pre-existing from newly synthesized material. Yeast cells segregate the spindle pole body (SPB, centrosome equivalent) inherited from the previous mitosis to the bud, while keeping the new one in the mother cell. Here, we show that the SPB inheritance network (SPIN), comprising the kinases Swe1 (also known as Wee1) and Kin3 (also known as Nek2) and the acetyltransferase NuA4 (also known as Tip60), distinguishes pre-existing from new SPBs. Swe1 phosphorylated Nud1 (orthologous to Centriolin) on young SPBs as they turned into pre-existing ones. The subsequent inactivation of Swe1 protected newly assembling SPBs from being marked. Kin3 and NuA4 maintained age marks on SPBs through following divisions. Downstream of SPIN, the Hippo regulator Bfa1-Bub2 bound the marked SPB, directed the spindle-positioning protein Kar9 towards it and drove its partition to the bud. Thus, coordination of SPIN activity and SPB assembly encodes age onto SPBs to enable their age-dependent segregation.

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