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  • The EMBO Journal (2008) 27, 132 - 142
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601949

Published online: 6 December 2007

Cdc2p controls the forkhead transcription factor Fkh2p by phosphorylation during sexual differentiation in fission yeast

Midori Shimada1, Chisato Yamada-Namikawa1, Yuko Murakami-Tonami1, Takashi Yoshida1, Makoto Nakanishi1, Takeshi Urano2 and Hiroshi Murakami1

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya City University, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Japan
  2. Department of Biochemistry II, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan

Correspondence to:

Hiroshi Murakami, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya City University, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Nagoya, Aichi 467-0001, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 853 8145; Fax: +81 52 842 3955; E-mail: hmura@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp

Received 24 June 2007; Accepted 15 November 2007

In most eukaryotes, cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) play a central role in control of cell-cycle progression. Cdks are inactivated from the end of mitosis to the start of the next cell cycle as well as during sexual differentiation. The forkhead-type transcription factor Fkh2p is required for the periodic expression of many genes and for efficient mating in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. However, the mechanism responsible for coordination of cell-cycle progression with sexual differentiation is still unknown. We now show that Fkh2p is phosphorylated by Cdc2p (Cdk1) and that phosphorylation of Fkh2p on T314 or S462 by this Cdk blocks mating in S. pombe by preventing the induction of ste11 + transcription, which is required for the onset of sexual development. We propose that functional interaction between Cdks and forkhead transcription factors may link the mitotic cell cycle and sexual differentiation.

  • Keywords:

    • Cdk1,
    • development,
    • phosphorylation,
    • transcription factor,
    • cell cycle