Polypeptide synthesis in cell cycle mutants of fission yeast

The cell cycle of a growing cel is characterized by 3 main periodic events: DNA synthesis mitosis and cell division. These events generally lie in a dependent sequence, in which one event cannot occur unless preceding events have occurred. The existence of dependent sequences of events raises the possibility that at least some of the gene products involved in the events are synthesized in a dependent sequence parallel to the observable events. To test this hypothesis, the patterns of polypeptide synthesis were investigated in 2 types of cell cycle mutant of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe: temperature-sensitive cell cycle (ts cdc) mutants. which become blocked in cell cycle progress at the restrictive temperature; and wee I mutants, which are defective in size control over nuclear division, and which divide at a small size. Cells of mutants and wild-type cells were labelled with [35S[sulphate under conditions designed to maximize any differences between the labelling patterns of wild-type and mutant cell polypeptides. The polypeptides were then separated by O'Farrell 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and the patterns compared. Although both types of mutation affect cell cycle control, and cause a considerable alteration in the relative proportions of cellular components, an examination of over 700 polypeptides detected on gels revealed no qualitative differences between wild-type and mutant cell polypeptides. These results suggest that a large majority of the more abundant polypeptides in the growing cell are synthesized independently of cell cycle controls directly related to DNA synthesis and division, and that the synthesis of these polypeptides can occur in the absence of normal progress through the cell cycle. Dependent sequences of gene expression do not appear to make a significant contribution to total polypeptide synthesis during the cell cycle, or to the occurrence of periodic cell cycle events such as mitosis. It is suggested that such cell cycle events may result largely through the reorganization of existing cellular components, rather than by the synthesis of new ones. An unsuccessful attempt was made to detect the wee I gene product on gels by surveying a range of mutants for changes in an individual spot. The limitations of gel electrophoresis for this type of survey, and other cell cycle experiments, are discussed.