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Cell cycle

Mitotic treasures in the nucleolus

Nature volume 398, pages 757–758 (1999)Cite this article

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to solve a basic problem and discover a regulatory principle in the process. But this is precisely what is reported by Amon and co-workers1 on page 818 of this issue, and by Shuo et al.2 in Cell. They were investigating how the cell regulates exit from mitosis — the final, chromosome-segregation phase of the cell cycle — and re-entry into the first phase, G1. And they have found that the key is sequestration of a protein phosphatase called Cdc14 in the nucleolus.

When cells enter mitosis, a series of carefully orchestrated, irreversible events occurs (reviewed by Morgan3). Depending on the organism, this includes breakdown of the nuclear envelope, condensation of chromosomes, assembly of the mitotic spindle, attachment of chromosomes to the spindle and, ultimately, segregation of the chromosomes to opposite poles of the cell (anaphase). After mitosis, the cell must be cleaved in two, then the two daughter cells return to a state (known as interphase) in which they are prepared for the next round of DNA synthesis and cell duplication. The main block to this process is the activity of a complex containing cyclin B and the cyclin-dependent kinase-1 (Cdk1), which both promotes entry into mitosis and prevents exit from it.

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Figure 1: Model for regulation of Cdc14 during the cell cycle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, T307, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Jeffrey B. Bachant & Stephen J. Elledge

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  1. Jeffrey B. Bachant
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  2. Stephen J. Elledge
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Bachant, J., Elledge, S. Mitotic treasures in the nucleolus. Nature 398, 757–758 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/19641

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