title: Cell cycle regulation of the licensing activity of Cdt1 in Xenopus laevis.
abstract: Cdt1 is a conserved replication factor required in licensing the chromosome for a single round of DNA synthesis. The activity of Cdt1 is inhibited by geminin. The mechanism by which geminin interferes with Cdt1 activity is unknown. It is thought that geminin binds to and sequestrate Cdt1. We show that geminin does not interfere with the chromatin association of Cdt1 and that inhibition of DNA synthesis by geminin is observed following its accumulation on chromatin. The binding of geminin to chromatin has been investigated during S phase. We demonstrate that loading of geminin onto chromatin requires Cdt1, suggesting that geminin is targeted at replication origins. We also show that geminin binds chromatin at the transition from the pre-replication to pre-initiation complexes, which overlaps with the release of Cdt1. This regulation is strikingly different from that observed in somatic cells where the chromatin binding of these proteins is mutually exclusive. In contrast to somatic cells, we further show that geminin is stable during the early embryonic cell cycles. These results suggest a specific regulation of origin firing adapted to the rapid cell cycles of Xenopus and indicate that periodic degradation of geminin is not relevant to licensing during embryonic development.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, 34396 Montpellier Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maiorano
authors.forename: Wilfrid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rul
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Méchali
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000187:drug effects; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D064248:Geminin; D007399:Interphase; D008297:Male; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D011485:Protein Binding; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology; D029867:Xenopus Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: C406819:Cdt1 protein, Xenopus; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C577998:GMNN protein, Xenopus; D064248:Geminin; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D029867:Xenopus Proteins