title: Cdt1 and geminin: role during cell cycle progression and DNA damage in higher eukaryotes.
abstract: DNA replication in eukaryotic cells must be strictly regulated to ensure that the entire genome is duplicated only once in each cell cycle. For this purpose, the initiation of DNA replication is controlled by the "licensing" reaction, which is established by the formation of a pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) with the sequential assembly of the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6, Cdt1 and Mcm2-7 onto origin regions. Among these, Cdt1 is likely the most important target for regulating licensing in higher eukaryotic cells, since illegitimate accumulation of Cdt1 causes multiple rounds of DNA replication without an intervening mitosis. Cdt1 is regulated over the course of the cell cycle mainly by the controlled expression of an inhibitor protein, geminin, and the level of Cdt1 periodically fluctuates due to ubiquitination and proteolysis. While the expression of geminin from S phase to metaphase of mitosis prevents licensing, Cdt1 accumulates from M to G1 phases and is degraded at the onset of S phase. Furthermore, Cdt1 is also proteolyzed in G1 phase in response to DNA damage, presumably providing a new checkpoint control.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cell Biology Laboratory, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8578, Japan. tada@mail.pharm.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shusuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D004249:DNA Damage; D004261:DNA Replication; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D064248:Geminin; D006801:Humans; D051738:Origin Recognition Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D029867:Xenopus Proteins
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C577998:GMNN protein, Xenopus; D064248:Geminin; D051738:Origin Recognition Complex; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; C499592:TAH11 protein, S cerevisiae; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases