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In budding yeast the conserved protein kinase Ipl1 regulates microtubule binding to kinetochores. Chromosome segregation is based on kinetochores, structures that mediate chromosome attachment to the mitotic spindle. Mutants in IPL1, which encodes a protein kinase, have been isolated in a screen for budding yeast mutants with defects in sister chromatid segregation and separation.

Yeast meiotic chromosome core development into full-length synaptonemal complexes must have the MED1 gene product which is a protein kinase homolog that is meiosis-specific. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis gives results that show that it is likely that Mek1-mediated phosphorylation of the Red1 protein is needed for meitoic sister-chromatid cohesion. Thus there is a possibility that cohesion is regulated by protein phosphorylation.