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‘… The End of the Beginning’: Cdk1 Thresholds and Exit from Mitosis

Frank Wolf, Reinhard Sigl and Stephan Geley

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Exit from mitosis requires the proteolytic degradation of mitotic cyclins, which is instigated by the APC/C ubiquitin ligase. The coincidence of mitotic cyclin B1 degradation with the onset of anaphase intuitively suggested a requirement of cyclin degradation for sister chromatid separation. While this hypothesis has originally been refuted, evidence that cyclin B1 degradation is required for anaphase during meiosis has been obtained, while its requirement for anaphase during mitosis is still more controversial. By studying human cells engineered to express non-degradable cyclin B1, we have recently shown that stable cyclin B1 affects progression through mitosis at various steps in a dose-dependent manner. These experiments suggest that controlled exit from mitosis might involve CDK activity thresholds for important late mitotic events, such as the onset of anaphase, formation of the spindle midzone, the onset of cytokinesis, cellular abscission and chromosome decondensation.

Authors

Frank Wolf

Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Reinhard Sigl

Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Stephan Geley

Div. Mol. Pathophysiology, Biocenter Innsbruck

Purchase article for $19

Subscribe to this journal for $129/year