Hot Papers

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. Jean Gautier (University of California, San Francisco): "The reason this article is cited often is that our findings unified for the first time a large number of apparently unrelated genetic and biochemical approaches using a wide variety of organisms. "MPF [maturation-promoting factor] was known as a universal mitotic inducer for more than 17 years. "In this study, we demon- strated that one of the two components of highly purified MPF was the Xenopus homolog of the yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2+. Both MPF and cdc2 genes were known to be present in phylogenetically diverse organisms; therefore, the identification of MPF as the product of a cdc2 gene was very important for the research in the cell cycle field. This paper illustrates the importance of collaborative research between different fields: in this case, genetics and biochemistry." M.M. Gottesman, I. Pastan, "The multi-drug transporter, a double-edged sword," The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 263, 12163-6, 5 September 1988. Michael M. Gottesman (Department of Health and Human Services, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.): "The subject matter of our review is an energy-dependent transport system that apparently evolved to protect animals from toxic chemicals present in their diet and possibly made in their bodies, but has been subverted by cancer cells to protect them from chemotherapeutic drugs derived from plants and fungi. Similar energy-dependent pumps, which are structurally homologous, have been recently discovered, including the cystic fibrosis gene product (CTFR). Thus, in addition to cancer researchers, who view this discovery as an opportunity to develop a new generation of anticancer drugs that bypass the pump, transport physiologists and scientists interested in bioenergetics have become intrigued by this class of transporters. The discovery and characterization of this type of efflux pump provides a simple explanation for several complex phenomena. For scientists, who appreciate simplicity and, hence, Occam's razor, this explanation of resistance to drugs used in chemotherapy is intellectually satisfying." 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. Laurent Meijer (Centre National Recherche Scientifique, Station Biologique, Roscoff, France): "The entry of cells into the M-phase was long known to be associated with the appearance of a universal intracellular `M-phase promoting factor' (MPF) and with the activation of a `M-phase-specific histone H1 kinase' (H1K). A few months before our paper appeared, p34cdc2, the product of a well-characterized cell division cycle gene in yeast, was demonstrated to be a subunit of MPF. Using the naturally highly synchronized starfish oocytes, we were fortunate to find that p34cdc2 was also a component of the M-phase-specific H1K. The recent demonstration of cyclin (a homolog of the yeast cdc13 product) as another subunit of H1K and the recently discovered connection between the p34cdc2 kinase and oncogenes and anti-oncogenes have further sparked interest in this field. The sudden joining of very different approaches to the cell cycle has provided a very firm grasp on the intracellular control of cell division and generated a series of `breakthrough papers' by several authors. We hope that our work has raised further interest in the use of marine invertebrate eggs to investigate the intracellular control of the cell division cycle."

Hot Papers

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