Controlling the Cell Cycle Biology Diagrams When the cell cycle control system malfunctions, the consequences can be severe, leading to uncontrolled proliferation and genomic instability. Regulatory disruptions may result from mutations in checkpoint proteins, overexpression of cyclins, or loss of tumor suppressor function, allowing unchecked division and tumor formation. CONTROL OF THE CELL CYCLE Cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK) regulation. The transition from one cell cycle phase to another occurs in an orderly fashion and is regulated by different cellular proteins. Key regulatory proteins are the cyclin‐dependent kinases (CDK), a family of serine/threonine protein kinases that are activated at specific
The cell-cycle control system was simply a black box inside the cell. It was not even clear whether there was a separate control system, or whether the processes of DNA synthesis, mitosis, and cytokinesis somehow controlled themselves. A major breakthrough came in the late 1980s with the identification of the key proteins of the control system
Control of the Cell Cycle Biology Diagrams
To prevent a compromised cell from continuing to divide, there are internal control mechanisms that operate at three main cell cycle checkpoints at which the cell cycle can be stopped until conditions are favorable. Figure 1 The cell cycle is controlled at three checkpoints. Integrity of the DNA is assessed at the G1 checkpoint. The length of the cell cycle is highly variable, even within the cells of a single organism. In humans, the frequency of cell turnover ranges from a few hours in early embryonic development, to an average of two to five days for epithelial cells, and to an entire human lifetime spent in G 0 by specialized cells, such as cortical neurons or cardiac muscle cells.
Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) lie at the heart of eukaryotic cell cycle control, with different cyclin-CDK complexes initiating DNA replication (S-CDKs) and mitosis (M-CDKs)1,2. However, the
The Hammer and the Dance of Cell Cycle Control Biology Diagrams
Cell cycle control is focused mainly on two events, the replication of genomic DNA and its subsequent segregation between daughter cells, which in eukaryotic cells occur during distinct cell cycle
