Ime2p and Cdc28p: co-pilots driving meiotic development

Abstract

Meiosis can be considered an elaboration of the cell division cycle in the sense that meiosis combines cell-cycle processes with programs specific to meiosis. Each phase of the cell division cycle is driven forward by cell-cycle kinases (Cdk) and coordinated with other phases of the cycle through checkpoint functions. Meiotic differentiation is also controlled by these two types of regulation; however, recent study in the budding yeast S. cerevisiae indicates that progression of meiosis is also controlled by a master regulator specific to meiosis, namely the Ime2p kinase. Below, I describe the overlapping roles of Ime2p and Cdk during meiosis in yeast and speculate on how these two kinases cooperate to drive the progression of meiosis.