The murine Ki-67 cell proliferation antigen accumulates in the nucleolar and heterochromatic regions of interphase cells and at the periphery of the mitotic chromosomes in a process essential for cell cycle progression.

We have isolated the murine homologue of the human Ki-67 antigen. The Ki-67 antigen is used as a marker to assess the proliferative capacity of tumour cells; however, its cellular function is not known. The murine Ki-67 cDNA sequence (TSG126) was found to contain 13 tandem repeats, making up more than half of the total protein size. A comparison of this repetitive sequence block to its human counterpart, which contains 16 consecutive repeat units, revealed several conserved sequence motifs, including one motif frequently observed in proteins interacting with DNA. An antiserum developed against the product of the TSG126 cDNA clone identified a protein with an apparent molecular mass of 360 kDa, mainly expressed in proliferating cells. The TSG126 protein begins to accumulate during the late G1 stage of the cell cycle and is first seen as numerous small granules evenly distributed throughout the nucleus. During the S and the G2 phases, larger foci that overlap with the nucleoli and the heterochromatic regions are formed. At the onset of mitosis the TSG126 protein undergoes a dramatic redistribution process and becomes associated with the surface of the condensed chromosomes. The relative absence of the TSG126 protein from G1 interphase cells strongly argues against a model where the association of the TSG126 protein with mitotic chromosomes merely reflects a mechanism for the symmetrical distribution of nucleolar proteins between daughter cells. Instead, the intracellular distribution of the TSG126 protein during the cell cycle suggests that it could have a chromatin-associated function in both interphase and mitotic cells. Microinjection of anti-TSG126 antibodies into proliferating Swiss-3T3 fibroblasts was found to delay cell cycle progression, indicating that the TSG126 protein has an essential nuclear function.