Hot Papers

The following is a list of the 13 papers on cell cycle biology featured in The Scientist's "Hot Papers" column during the past year. Brief summaries of the papers are included. * G. Draetta, D. Beach, "Activation of cdc2 protein kinase during mitosis in human cells: cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation and subunit rearrangement," Cell, 54, 17-26, 1 July 1988. (128 citations*; Jan. 8, 1990**) In this paper, Beach and Draetta demonstrated the first evidence of the involvement in mitosis of the human homolog to yeast cdc2 protein kinase. Also, phosphorylation of human cdc2 protein kinase brings about an association with a second protein. * W.G. Dunphy, L. Brizuela, D. Beach, J. Newport, "The Xenopus cdc2 protein is a component of MPF, a cytoplasmic regulator of mitosis," Cell, 54, 423-31, 29 July 1988. (167 citations; Jan. 8, 1990) J. Gautier, C. Norbury, M. Lohka, P. Nurse, J. Maller, "Purified maturation-promoting factor contains the product of a Xenopus homolog of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2+," Cell, 54, 433-9, 29 July 1988. (175 citations; Feb. 5, 1990) Here, both research groups independently determined that the cdc2 protein is one of the two components of maturation-promoting factor. * D. Arion, L. Meijer, L. Brizuela, D. Beach, "cdc2 is a component of the M phase-specific histone H1 kinase: evidence for identity with MPF," Cell, 55, 371-8, 21 October 1988. (116 citations; Feb. 5, 1990) The authors discussed a homolog in starfish oocytes to the cdc2 protein kinase found in yeast and Xenopus. * G. Draetta, F. Luca, J. Westendorf, L. Brizuela, et al., "cdc2 protein kinase is complexed with both cyclin A and B: evidence for proteolytic inactivation of MPF," Cell, 56, 829-38, 10 March 1989. (89 citations; April 30, 1990) Through the use of antibodies, Beach and his colleagues demonstrated that cdc2 protein kinase forms complexes with cyclin A and cyclin B. This evidence pointed to cyclin as the second protein component of MPF. * J. Minshull, J.J. Blow, T. Hunt, "Translation of cyclin mRNA is necessary for extracts of activated Xenopus eggs to enter mitosis," Cell, 56, 947-56, 24 March 1989 (62 citations; May 28, 1990) Here, the presence of cyclins in a vertebrate was confirmed. The authors also showed that if cyclin is destroyed, the cell cycle is blocked. * J.C. Labbe, A. Picard, G. Peaucellier, J.C. Cavadore, et al., "Purifi- cation of MPF from starfish: identification as the H1 histone kinase p34cdc2 and a possible mechanism for its periodic activation," Cell, 57, 253-63, 21 April 1989. (68 citations; Aug. 20, 1990) In this paper, the authors presented the first in vitro and in vivo evidence that the activation of MPF is due to the dephosphorylation of its cdc2 component. * A.W. Murray, M.W. Kirschner, "Cyclin synthesis drives the early embryonic cell cycle," Nature, 339, 275-80, 25 May 1989. (79 citations; Oct. 15, 1990) A.W. Murray, M.J. Solomon, M.W. Kirschner, "The role of cyclin synthesis and degradation in the control of maturation-promoting factor activity," Nature, 339, 280-6, 25 May 1989. (73 citations; Oct. 15, 1990) In these two papers, the authors demonstrated the role of cyclin synthesis during mitosis in frog egg extracts. * S. Moreno, J. Hayles, P. Nurse, "Regulation of p34cdc2 protein kinase during mitosis," Cell, 58:361-72, 28 July 1989. (35 citations; Nov. 12, 1990) Using yeast, Nurse and his colleagues confirmed that the activity of cdc2 protein kinase oscillates during the cell cycle, reaching its peak at the onset of mitosis. They also demonstrated that other proteins are involved in activating cdc2 protein kinase. * J. Pines, T. Hunter, "Isolation of a human cyclin cDNA: evidence for cyclin mRNA and protein regulation in the cell cycle and for interaction with p34cdc2," Cell, 58, 833-46, 8 September 1989. (40 citations; Oct. 29, 1990) This was the first paper to show that cyclins are found in mammalian cells and that their behavior is the same in different types of cells. * K.L. Gould, P. Nurse, "Tyrosine phosphorylation of the fission yeast cdc2+ protein kinase regulates entry into mitosis," Nature, 342, 39-45, 2 November 1989. (46 citations; Nov. 12, 1990) In this paper, the authors showed that the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of tyrosine directly regulates the activity of p34cdc2 protein kinase. * A.W. Murray, M.W. Kirschner, "Dominoes and clocks: the union of two views of the cell cycle," Science, 246, 614-21, 3 November 1989. (25 citations; Oct. 15, 1990) In this review article, Murray and Kirschner traced the history of cell cycle research, emphasized the major breakthroughs, and discussed future research.

Hot Papers

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