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Cell growth

A cell cycle controller rewrites its CV

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 1, pages 3–4 (2000)Cite this article

Any cell biology textbook will tell you that the main function of D-type cyclins is to get cells through the G1 phase of the cell cycle. They do this by activating one of two cyclin-dependent kinases, CDK4 or CDK6, which hyperphosphorylate the retinoblastoma protein RB, preventing it from co-repressing the transcription factor E2F. A quick glance at the first of the two EMBO Journal papers summarized here might leave you thinking that cyclin D–CDK4 is out of a job, but closer examination reveals that this is far from true: it may be dispensable for G1 progression, but it's added a new skill to its portfolio — as a key regulator of cell growth (increase in cell mass).

One of the main problems with studying the functions of cyclin–CDK complexes in vertebrates is that there are so many of them: redundancy confounds knockout studies. These papers side-step the problem by turning to Drosophila , which has only one D-type cyclin ( CycD), one Cdk4 and two RB-family members, Rbf and Rbf2.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Meyer, C. A. et al. Drosophila Cdk4 is required for normal growth and is dispensable for cell cycle progression . EMBO J. 19, 4533–4542 (2000) | Datar, S. A. et al. The Drosophila cyclin D–Cdk4 complex promotes cellular growth. EMBO J. 19, 4543– 4554 (2000)

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  2. REVIEW Sherr, C. J. & Roberts, J. M. CDK inhibitors: positive and negative regulators of G1-phase progression. Genes Dev. 13, 1501–1512 (1999)

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  3. FURTHER READING Cockcroft, C. E. et al. Cyclin D control of growth rate in plants. Nature 405, 575–579 (2000)

  4. Rane, S. G. et al. Loss of Cdk4 expression causes insulin-deficient diabetes and Cdk4 activation results in β-islet cell hyperplasia. Nature Genet. 22, 44–52 (1999)

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  5. Tsutsui, T. et al. Targeted disruption of CDK4 delays cell cycle entry with enhanced p27Kip1 activity. Mol. Cell Biol. 19, 7011–7019 ( 1999)

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Authors
  1. Cath Brooksbank
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Brooksbank, C. A cell cycle controller rewrites its CV. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 1, 3–4 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35036002

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