Cell cycle control of DNA replication

Author(s):  
Rati Fotedar ◽  
Arun Fotedar
Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Weinert ◽  
L H Hartwell

Abstract In eucaryotes a cell cycle control called a checkpoint ensures that mitosis occurs only after chromosomes are completely replicated and any damage is repaired. The function of this checkpoint in budding yeast requires the RAD9 gene. Here we examine the role of the RAD9 gene in the arrest of the 12 cell division cycle (cdc) mutants, temperature-sensitive lethal mutants that arrest in specific phases of the cell cycle at a restrictive temperature. We found that in four cdc mutants the cdc rad9 cells failed to arrest after a shift to the restrictive temperature, rather they continued cell division and died rapidly, whereas the cdc RAD cells arrested and remained viable. The cell cycle and genetic phenotypes of the 12 cdc RAD mutants indicate the function of the RAD9 checkpoint is phase-specific and signal-specific. First, the four cdc RAD mutants that required RAD9 each arrested in the late S/G2 phase after a shift to the restrictive temperature when DNA replication was complete or nearly complete, and second, each leaves DNA lesions when the CDC gene product is limiting for cell division. Three of the four CDC genes are known to encode DNA replication enzymes. We found that the RAD17 gene is also essential for the function of the RAD9 checkpoint because it is required for phase-specific arrest of the same four cdc mutants. We also show that both X- or UV-irradiated cells require the RAD9 and RAD17 genes for delay in the G2 phase. Together, these results indicate that the RAD9 checkpoint is apparently activated only by DNA lesions and arrests cell division only in the late S/G2 phase.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 614-621
Author(s):  
D E Lycan ◽  
M A Osley ◽  
L M Hereford

We analyzed the role of posttranscriptional mechanisms in the regulation of histone gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The rapid drop in histone RNA levels associated with the inhibition of ongoing DNA replication was postulated to be due to posttranscriptional degradation of histone transcripts. However, in analyzing the sequences required for this response, we showed that the coupling of histone RNA levels to DNA replication was due mostly, if not entirely, to transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Furthermore, deletions which removed the negative, cell cycle control sequences from the histone promoter also uncoupled histone transcription from DNA replication. We propose that the arrest of DNA synthesis prematurely activates the regulatory pathway used in the normal cell cycle to repress transcription. Although posttranscriptional regulation did not appear to play a significant role in coupling histone RNA levels to DNA replication, it did affect the levels of histone RNA in the cell cycle. Posttranscriptional regulation could apparently restore much of the periodicity of histone RNA accumulation in cells which constitutively transcribed the histone genes. Unlike transcriptional regulation, periodic posttranscriptional regulation appears to operate on a clock which is independent of events in the mitotic DNA cycle. Posttranscriptional recognition of histone RNA must require either sequences in the 3' end of the RNA or an intact three-dimensional structure since H2A- and H2B-lacZ fusion transcripts, containing only 5' histone sequences, were insensitive to posttranscriptional controls.


Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 369 (6504) ◽  
pp. eaaz2532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Tarrason Risa ◽  
Fredrik Hurtig ◽  
Sian Bray ◽  
Anne E. Hafner ◽  
Lena Harker-Kirschneck ◽  
...  

Sulfolobus acidocaldarius is the closest experimentally tractable archaeal relative of eukaryotes and, despite lacking obvious cyclin-dependent kinase and cyclin homologs, has an ordered eukaryote-like cell cycle with distinct phases of DNA replication and division. Here, in exploring the mechanism of cell division in S. acidocaldarius, we identify a role for the archaeal proteasome in regulating the transition from the end of one cell cycle to the beginning of the next. Further, we identify the archaeal ESCRT-III homolog, CdvB, as a key target of the proteasome and show that its degradation triggers division by allowing constriction of the CdvB1:CdvB2 ESCRT-III division ring. These findings offer a minimal mechanism for ESCRT-III–mediated membrane remodeling and point to a conserved role for the proteasome in eukaryotic and archaeal cell cycle control.


1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E Kearsey ◽  
Karim Labib ◽  
Domenico Maiorano

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 2185-2197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Raspelli ◽  
Corinne Cassani ◽  
Giovanna Lucchini ◽  
Roberta Fraschini

Timely down-regulation of the evolutionarily conserved protein kinase Swe1 plays an important role in cell cycle control, as Swe1 can block nuclear division through inhibitory phosphorylation of the catalytic subunit of cyclin-dependent kinase. In particular, Swe1 degradation is important for budding yeast cell survival in case of DNA replication stress, whereas it is inhibited by the morphogenesis checkpoint in response to alterations in actin cytoskeleton or septin structure. We show that the lack of the Dma1 and Dma2 ubiquitin ligases, which moderately affects Swe1 localization and degradation during an unperturbed cell cycle with no apparent phenotypic effects, is toxic for cells that are partially defective in Swe1 down-regulation. Moreover, Swe1 is stabilized, restrained at the bud neck, and hyperphosphorylated in dma1Δ dma2Δ cells subjected to DNA replication stress, indicating that the mechanism stabilizing Swe1 under these conditions is different from the one triggered by the morphogenesis checkpoint. Finally, the Dma proteins are required for proper Swe1 ubiquitylation. Taken together, the data highlight a previously unknown role of these proteins in the complex regulation of Swe1 and suggest that they might contribute to control, directly or indirectly, Swe1 ubiquitylation.


1979 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-124
Author(s):  
G. Cleffmann ◽  
W.O. Reuter ◽  
H.M. Seyfert

Increases in RNA, protein and cell size were determined cytophotometrically during the cell division cycle of Tetrahymena. For these parameters different patterns were found. RNA accumulates slowly during G1 period and faster during macronuclear S. This agrees with the changing uridine incorporation rate which is at least partly related to the varying macronuclear DNA amount. Increases in protein content and cell size occur mainly during G1 and G2. This pattern was confirmed by determining the RNA: protein ratio in individual cells. It is minimal at the end of the G1 period. These findings and evidence from the literature suggest that initiation of DNA replication is under negative control by the relative RNA content of the cell.


1994 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
G H Leno ◽  
R Munshi

We have investigated the replication capacity of intact nuclei from quiescent cells using Xenopus egg extract. Nuclei, with intact nuclear membranes, were isolated from both exponentially growing and contact-inhibited BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts by treatment of the cells with streptolysin-O. Flow cytometry showed that > 90% of all contact-inhibited cells and approximately 50% of the exponential cells were in G0/G1-phase at the time of nuclear isolation. Intact nuclei were assayed for replication in the extract by incorporation of [alpha-32P]dATP or biotin-dUTP into nascent DNA. Most nuclei from exponential cells replicated in the egg extract, consistent with previous results showing that intact G1 nuclei from HeLa cells replicate in this system. In contrast, few nuclei from quiescent cells replicated in parallel incubations. However, when the nuclear membranes of these intact quiescent nuclei were permeabilized with lysophosphatidylcholine prior to addition to the extract, nearly all the nuclei replicated under complete cell cycle control in a subsequent incubation. The ability of LPC-treated quiescent nuclei to undergo DNA replication was reversed by resealing permeable nuclear membranes with Xenopus egg membranes prior to extract incubation demonstrating that the effect of LPC treatment is at the level of the nuclear membrane. These results indicate that nuclei from G1-phase cells lose their capacity to initiate DNA replication following density-dependent growth arrest and suggest that changes in nuclear membrane permeability may be required for the initiation of replication upon re-entry of the quiescent cell into the cell cycle.


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