The Effect of Cell Mass on the Cell Cycle Timing and Duration of S-Phase in Fission Yeast

1979 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-233
Author(s):  
KIM NASMYTH ◽  
PAUL NURSE ◽  
R. S. S. FRASER

Request for reprints to Paul Nurse. Two isotopic methods for measuring DNA replication in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe are described. The first is a method for measuring the total quantity of [3H]uracil incorporated into DNA after pulse labelling. The second is a means of detecting DNA replication in single cells by autoradiography. Both of these techniques have been used to investigate the timing and duration of S-phase in a series of mutant strains whose cell mass at division varies over a 3-fold range. The results support the hypothesis that in S. pombe there are 2 different controls over the timing of S-phase: an attainment of a critical cell mass and a dependency upon the completion of the previous mitosis coupled with a short minimum time in G1. Strains whose cell mass at birth is above this critical level initiate DNA replication almost immediately after septation, that is, very soon after the previous mitosis. Strains whose cell mass at birth is below the critical level do not initiate replication until the critical cell mass is attained. The duration of S-phase has been estimated from the proportion of cells whose nuclei are labelled after a pulse of given duration. S-phase is short in S. pombe, lasting only about 0.1 of a cell cycle in wild type. Cell mass at S-phase does not have any consistent effect on this length. We have also investigated the degree of synchrony of S-phase initiation in daughter cells, and have found that, in a cell cycle 240 min long, their S-phases are initiated within 1–2 min of each other. This result indicates that between sisters variability in the duration of the G1 phase is small compared with variability in the total cell cycle time, and argues against the hypothesis that the rate of cell cycle traverse is determined by a random transition in G1.

1999 ◽  
Vol 380 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 729-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Nurse

AbstractThe cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs), formed by complexes between Cdc2p and the B-cyclins Cig2p and Cdc13p, have a central role in regulating the fission yeast cell cycle and maintaining genomic stability. The CDK Cig2p/Cdc2p controls the onset of S-phase and the CDK Cdc13p/Cdc2p controls the onset of mitosis and ensures that there is only one S-phase in each cell. Cdc13p/Cdc2p can replace Cig2p/Cdc2p for the onset of S-phase, suggesting that the increasing activity of a single CDK during the cell cycle is sufficient to drive a cell in an orderly fashion into S-phase and into mitosis. If S-phase is incomplete, then inhibition of Cdc13p/Cdc2p prevents cells with unreplicated DNA from undergoing a catastrophic entry into mitosis. Control of CDK activity is also important to allow cells to exit the cell cycle and accumulate in G1 in response to nutritional deprivation and the presence of pheromone.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. e201800086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Yunger ◽  
Pinhas Kafri ◽  
Liat Rosenfeld ◽  
Eliraz Greenberg ◽  
Noa Kinor ◽  
...  

Imaging of transcription by quantitative fluorescence-based techniques allows the examination of gene expression kinetics in single cells. Using a cell system for the in vivo visualization of mammalian mRNA transcriptional kinetics at single-gene resolution during the cell cycle, we previously demonstrated a reduction in transcription levels after replication. This phenomenon has been described as a homeostasis mechanism that buffers mRNA transcription levels with respect to the cell cycle stage and the number of transcribing alleles. Here, we examined how transcriptional buffering enforced during S phase affects two different promoters, the cytomegalovirus promoter versus the cyclin D1 promoter, that drive the same gene body. We found that global modulation of histone modifications could completely revert the transcription down-regulation imposed during replication. Furthermore, measuring these levels of transcriptional activity in fixed and living cells showed that the transcriptional potential of the genes was significantly higher than actual transcription levels, suggesting that promoters might normally be limited from reaching their full transcriptional potential.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Lopez-Girona ◽  
Odile Mondesert ◽  
Janet Leatherwood ◽  
Paul Russell

Fission yeast Cdc18, a homologue of Cdc6 in budding yeast and metazoans, is periodically expressed during the S phase and required for activation of replication origins. Cdc18 overexpression induces DNA rereplication without mitosis, as does elimination of Cdc2-Cdc13 kinase during G2 phase. These findings suggest that illegitimate activation of origins may be prevented through inhibition of Cdc18 by Cdc2. Consistent with this hypothesis, we report that Cdc18 interacts with Cdc2 in association with Cdc13 and Cig2 B-type cyclins in vivo. Cdc18 is phosphorylated by the associated Cdc2 in vitro. Mutation of a single phosphorylation site, T104A, activates Cdc18 in the rereplication assay. The cdc18-K9 mutation is suppressed by a cig2 mutation, providing genetic evidence that Cdc2-Cig2 kinase inhibits Cdc18. Moreover, constitutive expression of Cig2 prevents rereplication in cells lacking Cdc13. These findings identify Cdc18 as a key target of Cdc2-Cdc13 and Cdc2-Cig2 kinases in the mechanism that limits chromosomal DNA replication to once per cell cycle.


2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (23) ◽  
pp. 4341-4350 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Borgne ◽  
P. Nurse

Spd1p (for S phase delayed) is a cell cycle inhibitor in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Spd1p overexpression blocks the onset of both S phase and mitosis. In this study, we have investigated the mechanisms by which Spd1p overexpression blocks cell cycle progression, focussing on the block over mitotic onset. High levels of Spd1p lead to an increase in Y15 phosphorylation of Cdc2p and we show that the block over G(2) requires the Wee1p kinase and is dependent on the rad and chk1/cds1 checkpoint genes. We propose that high levels of Spd1p in G(2) cells activate the DNA replication checkpoint control, which leads to a Wee1p-dependent increase of Cdc2p Y15 phosphorylation blocking onset of mitosis. The Spd1p block at S phase onset may act by interfering directly with DNA replication, and also activates the G(2)rad/hus checkpoint pathway to block mitosis.


1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Okishio ◽  
Y. Adachi ◽  
M. Yanagida

The nda1+ and nda4+ genes of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe encode proteins similar to budding yeast MCM2 and MCM5/CDC46, respectively, which are required for the early stages of DNA replication. The budding yeast Mcm proteins display cell-cycle dependent localization. They are present in the nucleus specifically from late M phase until the beginning of S phase, so that they were suggested to be components of a replication licensing factor, a positive factor for the onset of replication, which is thought to be inactivated after use, thus restricting replication to only once in a cell cycle. In the present study, we raised antibodies against Nda1 or Nda4 and identified 115 kDa and 80 kDa proteins, respectively. Their immunolocalization was examined in wild-type cells and in various cell-cycle mutants. Both Nda1 and Nda4 proteins remained primarily in the nucleus throughout the cell cycle. In mutants arrested in G1, S, and G2 phases, these proteins were also enriched in the nucleus. These results indicate that the dramatic change in subcellular localization as seen in budding yeast is not essential in fission yeast for the functions of Nda1 and Nda4 proteins to be executed. The histidine-tagged nda1+ gene was constructed and integrated into the chromosome to replace the wild-type nda1+ gene. The resulting His-tagged Nda1 protein was adsorbed to the Ni-affinity column, and co-eluted with the untagged Nda4 protein, suggesting that they formed a complex.


1993 ◽  
Vol 341 (1298) ◽  
pp. 449-454 ◽  

Genetic analysis using the fission yeast has provided a powerful methodology to investigate the eukaryotic cell cycle and its control. The onset of M -phase in fission yeast is controlled by a regulatory gene network which activates the p34 cdc2 protein kinase encoded by the cdc 2 + gene. The coupling of M -phase to the completion of S-phase also works through p34 cdc2 . A similar network is operative in vertebrate cells. Future work will focus on the controls regulating onset of S-phase and on the mechanisms by which a cell duplicates itself in space during division.


2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1455) ◽  
pp. 595-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohta Takahashi ◽  
Yuko Takayama ◽  
Fumie Masuda ◽  
Yasuyo Kobayashi ◽  
Shigeaki Saitoh

CENP-A is a centromere-specific histone H3 variant that is- essential for faithful chromosome segregation in all eukaryotes thus far investigated. We genetically identified two factors, Ams2 and Mis6, each of which is required for the correct centromere localization of SpCENP-A (Cnp1), the fission yeast homologue of CENP-A. Ams2 is a cell-cycle-regulated GATA factor that localizes on the nuclear chromatin, including on centromeres, during the S phase. Ams2 may be responsible for the replication-coupled loading of SpCENP-A by facilitating nucleosomal formation during the S phase. Consistently, overproduction of histone H4, but not that of H3, suppressed the defect of SpCENP-A localization in Ams2-deficient cells. We demonstrated the existence of at least two distinct phases for SpCENP-A loading during the cell cycle: the S phase and the late-G2 phase. Ectopically induced SpCENP-A was efficiently loaded onto the centromeres in G2-arrested cells, indicating that SpCENP-A probably undergoes replication-uncoupled loading after the completion of S phase. This G2 loading pathway of SpCENP-A may require Mis6, a constitutive centromere-binding protein that is also implicated in the Mad2-dependent spindle attachment checkpoint response. Here, we discuss the functional relationship between the flexible loading mechanism of CENP-A and the plasticity of centromere chromatin formation in fission yeast.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Gemble ◽  
Géraldine Buhagiar-Labarchède ◽  
Rosine Onclercq-Delic ◽  
Sarah Lambert ◽  
Mounira Amor-Guéret

AbstractTopoisomerase IIα (Topo IIα), a well-conserved double-stranded DNA (dsDNA)-specific decatenase, processes dsDNA catenanes resulting from DNA replication during mitosis. Topo IIα defects lead to an accumulation of ultrafine anaphase bridges (UFBs), a type of chromosome non-disjunction. Topo IIα has been reported to resolve DNA anaphase threads, possibly accounting for the increase in UFB frequency upon Topo IIα inhibition. We hypothesized that the excess UFBs might also result, at least in part, from an impairment of the prevention of UFB formation by Topo IIα. We found that Topo IIα inhibition promotes UFB formation without affecting UFB resolution during anaphase. Moreover, we showed that Topo IIα inhibition promotes the formation of two types of UFBs depending on cell-cycle phase. Topo IIα inhibition during S-phase compromises complete DNA replication, leading to the formation of UFB-containing unreplicated DNA, whereas Topo IIα inhibition during mitosis impedes DNA decatenation at metaphase-anaphase transition, leading to the formation of UFB-containing DNA catenanes. Thus, Topo IIα activity is essential to prevent UFB formation in a cell-cycle dependent manner, but dispensable for UFB resolution during anaphase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5195
Author(s):  
Hui Zhang

In eukaryotic cells, DNA replication licensing is precisely regulated to ensure that the initiation of genomic DNA replication in S phase occurs once and only once for each mitotic cell division. A key regulatory mechanism by which DNA re-replication is suppressed is the S phase-dependent proteolysis of Cdt1, an essential replication protein for licensing DNA replication origins by loading the Mcm2-7 replication helicase for DNA duplication in S phase. Cdt1 degradation is mediated by CRL4Cdt2 ubiquitin E3 ligase, which further requires Cdt1 binding to proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) through a PIP box domain in Cdt1 during DNA synthesis. Recent studies found that Cdt2, the specific subunit of CRL4Cdt2 ubiquitin E3 ligase that targets Cdt1 for degradation, also contains an evolutionarily conserved PIP box-like domain that mediates the interaction with PCNA. These findings suggest that the initiation and elongation of DNA replication or DNA damage-induced repair synthesis provide a novel mechanism by which Cdt1 and CRL4Cdt2 are both recruited onto the trimeric PCNA clamp encircling the replicating DNA strands to promote the interaction between Cdt1 and CRL4Cdt2. The proximity of PCNA-bound Cdt1 to CRL4Cdt2 facilitates the destruction of Cdt1 in response to DNA damage or after DNA replication initiation to prevent DNA re-replication in the cell cycle. CRL4Cdt2 ubiquitin E3 ligase may also regulate the degradation of other PIP box-containing proteins, such as CDK inhibitor p21 and histone methylase Set8, to regulate DNA replication licensing, cell cycle progression, DNA repair, and genome stability by directly interacting with PCNA during DNA replication and repair synthesis.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 4173-4187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Farràs ◽  
Véronique Baldin ◽  
Sandra Gallach ◽  
Claire Acquaviva ◽  
Guillaume Bossis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT JunB, a member of the AP-1 family of dimeric transcription factors, is best known as a cell proliferation inhibitor, a senescence inducer, and a tumor suppressor, although it also has been attributed a cell division-promoting activity. Its effects on the cell cycle have been studied mostly in G1 and S phases, whereas its role in G2 and M phases still is elusive. Using cell synchronization experiments, we show that JunB levels, which are high in S phase, drop during mid- to late G2 phase due to accelerated phosphorylation-dependent degradation by the proteasome. The forced expression of an ectopic JunB protein in late G2 phase indicates that JunB decay is necessary for the subsequent reduction of cyclin A2 levels in prometaphase, the latter event being essential for proper mitosis. Consistently, abnormal JunB expression in late G2 phase entails a variety of mitotic defects. As these aberrations may cause genetic instability, our findings contrast with the acknowledged tumor suppressor activity of JunB and reveal a mechanism by which the deregulation of JunB might contribute to tumorigenesis.


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