Cell-cycle cameras recently recorded a troubling scene. Investigators had taken away genes thought to control cell-cycle progression, a central force in growth and development and cancer, but some mice and cell lines grew anyway (see A Cell-Cycle Couple Loses Its Luster). At the perceived time of the incident--the mitotic transition from G1 to S phase-- putative primary players such as cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) were not at the scene. Now, private and government investigators can only guess as to which proteins may fill the shoes of CDK2 and its partner in mitotic control, cyclin E.
Compiled by Brendan A. Maher and Douglas Steinberg
