Molecular Mechanism of the Final Steps in the Activation of MPF
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
During the cell cycle, dividing eukaryotic cells utilize a network of regulatory enzymes to ensure that mitosis occurs at the correct time. The target of this regulatory cascade is maturation-promoting factor (MPF), a key protein kinase that induces the cell to enter mitosis by phosphorylating a wide variety of regulatory and structural proteins (see Moreno and Nurse 1990). For example, phosphorylation of the nuclear lamins leads to fragmentation of the lamina that underlies the nuclear membrane (Peter et al. 1990). Likewise, mitosis-specific phosphorylation of histone H1 may play a role in condensation of the chromosomes.
MPF is a heterodimeric complex that contains the cdc2 protein kinase and a larger regulatory partner known as cyclin (for review, see Dunphy and Newport 1988; Lewin 1990; Nurse 1990; Pines and Hunter 1990). Much remains to be learned about the regulation of MPF, but it is clearly established that one indispensable type of regulatory...
