Cell cycle control of DNA replication by p34cdc2

Abstract

Commitment to DNA replication is one of the major control points of the eukaryotic cell cycle, and one that has been curiously hard to analyse. However, homologous components of this process are now being identified by genetic analysis of yeast and by biochemical analysis of cell-free systems from higher eukaryotes. This homology suggests that these components are part of a universal mechanism for controlling the eukaryotic cell cycle. The most important component of this mechanism is the cdc2 protein, which controls the initiation of both DNA replication and mitosis. At present, however, its precise role in DNA replication is unclear.