LMO7 exerts an effect on mitosis progression and the spindle assembly checkpoint

LMO7 (LIM domain only 7) is a transcription regulator for expression of many Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy-relevant genes, and binds to α-actinin and AF6/afadin at adherens junctions for epithelial cell–cell adhesion. In this study, we found that human LMO7 interacted with the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) protein MAD1. LMO7 colocalized with actin filaments at the cell membrane but did not colocalize with MAD1 at kinetochores in prometaphase. Our observations reveal that overexpression but not depletion of LMO7 caused a SAC defect, and that the LIM domain of LMO7 was a determinant of its ability to interfere with kinetochore localization of the SAC proteins MAD2 and BUBR1 and cause a SAC defect though the LIM peptide itself did neither bind to MAD1, MAD2 and BUBR1 nor localize to the actin filaments. However, overexpression of LMO7 or the LIM peptide did not interfere with kinetochore localization of MAD1. Additionally, overexpression of the LIM peptide prolonged mitotic timing and interfered with chromosome congression whereas that of LMO7b did not. Taken together, we conclude that LMO7 via its LIM domain acts to control mitosis progression and exerts an effect on the SAC.